Arab women treated badly and unhappy? It’s apparently just a figment of our imagination, according to a report from Al Crapeeza.
US media are being disingenuous in portraying Arab women as unhappy and wronged, a close aide to President George Bush on a PR visit to Saudi Arabia has been told. And it has come from the horse’s mouth.“We are happy. We want to show that image (but) the general image of the Arab woman in the American media is that she is not happy,” a female student at Jeddah’s private Dar al-Hekma University said during an encounter with US Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes, drawing thunderous applause from colleagues.“Your media is not really as fair as it used to be,” came another voice from among the crowd of women clad in the black abaya who gathered in an amphitheatre on Tuesday to “exchange” views with the American visitor.
I guess being called a “horse” by Al Crapeeza doesn’t bother her either.
But seriously, how do these women explain their curtailed rights, such as the prohibition to drive?
As reporters accompanying Hughes on her tour listened, the girls – mostly Saudis but including some from other Arab countries – said they had had enough of being portrayed as deprived of any rights.“I don’t want to drive, because I have my own driver,” one of them defiantly told American journalists.
Ahhh, our bad. Sorry about that misunderstanding.
And what about this? It’s ok, because she had her own makeup artist?
Don’t get me wrong; I am sure not all Arab women are treated badly and are unhappy. But denying that the problem exists is a worrying sign. Either these women are so indoctrinated that they don’t realize that their rights are severely curtailed, or they are too scared to speak out.
