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| Arabia |
| Barbie Deemed Threat to Saudi Morality |
| 2003-09-10 |
| RIYADH, Saudi-controlled Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia’s religious police have declared Barbie dolls a threat to morality, complaining that the revealing clothes of the "Jewish" toy - already banned in the kingdom - are offensive to Islam. "Mommie, what’s a ’rack’"? The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as the religious police are officially known, lists the dolls on a section of its Web site devoted to items deemed offensive to the conservative Saudi interpretation of Islam. "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful," said a poster on the site. The poster, plastered with pictures of Barbie in short dresses and tight pants, and with a few of her accessories, reads: "A strange request. A little girl asks her mother: Mother, I want jeans, a low-cut shirt, and a swimsuit like Barbie." "Mommie, can I have titties like Barbie?" "Hush, Fatima, you know your father will never be able to drown you if you do!" Such posters are distributed to schools and hung in the streets by the religious police, or muttawa, an independent body affiliated with the office of the Prime Minister. Are they trying to ban Barbie or market her? Vice police officials were not available for comment Monday. "Dammit, Achmed, we can’t hang these posters, they’re all wet and sticky!" Sheik Abdulla al-Merdas, a preacher in a Riyadh mosque, said the muttawa take their anti-Barbie campaign to the shops, confiscating dolls from sellers and imposing a fine. Although illegal, Barbies are found on the black market, where a contraband doll could cost $27 or more. Thus creating a new class of criminals, the ’Barbie-runners’. "It is no problem that little girls play with dolls. But these dolls should not have the developed body of a woman, and wear revealing clothes," al-Merdas said. "These dolls have those tight jeans, those cre-e-e-e-amy smooth thighs and those, those, those THINGS on their chests ... oh by Allah, I have to go ... shoot my gun!" "These revealing clothes will be imprinted in their minds and they will refuse to wear the clothes we are used to as Muslims," the sheik said. Kind of hard to get ’em back into a burlap sack once they’ve seen the latest skank-ho fashions. Women in Saudi Arabia must cover themselves from head to toe with a black cloak in public. They are not allowed to drive and cannot go out in public unaccompanied by a male family member. Other items listed as violations on the site included Valentine’s Day gifts, perfume bottles in the shape of women’s bodies, clothing with logos that include a cross, and decorative copies of religious items - offensive because they could be damaged and thus insult Islam. An exhibition of all the violating items is found in the holy city of Medina, and mobile tours go around to schools and other public areas in the kingdom. "Oh, Mommie, look, the cool van is coming around with all the toys! Can we buy some, p-l-l-l-l-ease?" "Fatima, hush, your father will only confiscate them." "But Mommie, he plays with them in his den! I want some of my own!" |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #19 Mullahs don't play with Barbies. They prefer younger girls. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-9-10 6:02:35 PM |
| #18 New Saudi Barbie |
| Posted by: DANEgerus 2003-9-10 4:17:09 PM |
| #17 Crazy Fool: Don't take this as being lame or cliched, but it's not Islam, it's Wahibism. To explain Wahibism to the unitiated (not that you are unitiated) you need to know it is based on the belief that ALL temptation must be eradicated so that sin cannot develop. (Remember the mutawwa's other English translated title is the Committees for the Promotion of Virtue and ELIMINATION of Vice) Ergo, the ban on female drivers in the Kingdom. In free countries, it is understood that the inherent benefits, rights and freedoms will be abused by a few, but overall, society as a whole will benefit if all have the opportunities to practice them. So free countries allow women to drive eventhough some women will use cars to liase with men who are not their husbands. But most women will use cars wisely as they have jobs to go to, kids to drop off, and just to get to where they want to go. In Saudi, this minority of women who might bring dishonor to their menfolk spoils everthing for the straight-pathed majority. Result: NO women can drive. So many families hire drivers from India, Pakland, etc. just to enable mama to live a semi-normal life. Same reasoning for prohibitions on mixing of the sexes at work. One liberal Saudi friend once told me that the driving/working bans were stupid because Saudi women could always have affairs with their drivers; his anecdotal evidence show they do, although the Arab News won't carry the stories. Wonder why? .com is also correct on how it's never the guy's fault there for succumbing to temptation, but rather the woman's walking around the mall without something covering her blond hair that made the guy ask her if she wanted to go to his house for a session. She would be lucky, BTW, if that's all that transpired. And this just scratches the surface of life in the Magic Kingdom. |
| Posted by: Michael 2003-9-10 3:10:36 PM |
| #16 Greg - and goats. You left out the goats. Goats are more common in the Middle East than mules. Unless you were classifying some of the things disquised with burkhas as mules, then I can accept that... |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-9-10 2:31:12 PM |
| #15 They would rather have sex with camels and mules than Blonde babes! |
| Posted by: Greg 2003-9-10 1:52:31 PM |
| #14 Actually I think Barbie looks more like a classic shiksa |
| Posted by: Not Mike Moore 2003-9-10 1:08:10 PM |
| #13 I am trying to triangulate in on this issue. I think that Arabian Barbie should be sold without hands. All sides would agree to that. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-10 12:19:05 PM |
| #12 COFFEE ALERT!!! Remember folks, at least the way the Wahabbists play the game, a Muslim man is never responsible for his behavior if he can claim he was tempted - no discipline is req'd. And, they have a big problem with graven images, too - recall the logo story from a few weeks ago? BTW, $27 is 100 Riyals - a nice round (like Barbie's outstanding) figure. |
| Posted by: .com (a.k.a. Abu This!) 2003-9-10 12:05:55 PM |
| #11 TPF--Uh, no, I never noticed. But then, I was busy checking out the football team. Or the basketball team. ;) CrazyFool--maybe it's the missionary aspect of the religion (Wahhabism) that makes them that way. If they can't make you convert to their way of thinking, they damn sure are going to try to make your behavior conform to their standards. That way it saves the faithful from the eeevillllllll influence of watching the infidels enjoying the forbidden fun thing (drinking, gambling, playing with Barbie), and reduces the danger of being led away from the faith. |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-9-10 11:47:12 AM |
| #10 Oh, c'mon. What's wrong with Barbie? http://www.c-wilkie.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/jokes/pages/barbie1.html |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-9-10 11:16:19 AM |
| #9 Maybe if we pointed out that Barbies (pbuh) are for girls to play with, not for the mullahs... |
| Posted by: flash91 - fatwah you talkin bout willis 2003-9-10 10:56:31 AM |
| #8 Methinks a "Shaheed and His 72 Virgins" Barbie collection would speed recruitment amongst the holy youth at the madrissas! In'shallah! The martyrs would be lining up endlessly after viewing this lucky shaheed being serviced by 72 virgin Barbies! _______________borgboy |
| Posted by: borgboy 2003-9-10 10:38:10 AM |
| #7 What is it about Islam that it is so terrified of such things as Barbie? I mean a *true* follower of any religion would not be involved in those things which are 'offensive' to that religion anyway. Weather it is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddist, Pagan or Athiest. So whats the beef? Why does this organization have to 'protect' people (read: force their beliefs on everyone else)? Is Islam (and peoples belief in it) so weak that a silly fashion doll can destroy it? I'l not trying to be anti-Islamic or anything. I just want to know. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2003-9-10 9:17:42 AM |
| #6 Work is going on even as we speak at Eglin on the Barbie bomb. It's a rigged wind corrected munitions dispenser able to spread the Bablets over a multi acre sized area. Mattel is the major sub-contractor. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-9-10 7:45:30 AM |
| #5 Baba...I hope you're joking.In those parts,ALL bad things are caused by the JEW,therefore,so is Barbie.And Pokemon.Ditto Heavy Metal.Follow the logic? |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-9-10 5:53:58 AM |
| #4 At least this makes more sense than that article about Al-Queada saying Arafish was evil. Someone want to post something on that, I'm just plain out to lazy. ( AKA I'm a really lazy person. ) |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-9-10 2:08:01 AM |
| #3 Don't play dumb Baba. Everyone knows that Debbie Hirshfeld had the most luscious tatas in my 9th grade class. And AP, it would take a lot more than a mere burka to hide those delicious twin peaks... I mean, it wasn't just that they were large-- which they were-- but also their perky upward and forward thrust, plus... uh, I seem to be digressing from the topic... which was? |
| Posted by: TPF 2003-9-10 1:54:13 AM |
| #2 Just get a Burka Barbie on the market and all will be fine. Just make a skeletal framework inside so if the black outfit comes off, nobody sees anything except something that looks like a miniature steel frame of a skyscraper. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-9-10 1:22:39 AM |
| #1 Where did they get the idea Barbie is Jewish? I don't recall seeing "Bat Mitzvah Barbie" or "IDF Ken" in the store! (Yeah, yeah, I know she was always seeing GI Joe on the side......) I do like the dateline, however. "Saudi-controlled Arabia"? |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-9-10 1:14:46 AM |