I'm kind of surprised IKEA even got in the door there. Modern fashion? THE HORROR!!!!!

IKEA is furniture, not fashion.

What I don't get is the whole driver thing. Wouldn't you rather your wife be alone in the car, than alone with a man in your car?

The wives of many rich Saudi men do drive (by living in other countries), wear super expensive designer stuff and do not wear veils.

Reason:

[A]ll the goods, ideas, and people that cross borders under globalization allow people to see more alternatives, to see other ways of living. When women and other oppressed groups in poor countries see how their counterparts in Western societies are treated, they begin to have ideas about how they want to be treated.

When women and other oppressed groups in poor countries see how their counterparts in Western societies are treated, they begin to have ideas about how they want to be treated.

Yes, and we can't have that, now can we?

/sarcasm

Thirty years ago, my best friend's husband was offered the position of harbormaster of Yanbu Port during the new construction. He was sent all kinds of literature and his wife and I were poring over it, excited at the idea (I was go to with them as nanny to their son), until we got to the part about women having to be veiled, not being allowed to drive, no going out unaccompanied, and the no alcohol clause. We all looked at each other and at the same time, said, NO, I don't THINK so! But he lost a LOT of dough by not taking the position. I still feel kind of bad about it, like maybe we should have gone anyway. They were even going to transport my horse for me.

*sigh*

Things were kind of different back then. But I wonder how long I would have lasted before I would have had to come back.

The last line of one of the brochures said "Visitors are welcome and expected to comply with the rules."

Ah, yeah.

If you spend some time in Bahrain, which is Muslim but much more liberal that Saudia Arabia, you will get to see the "real" Saudia Arabia. There's a bridge, and on Wednesday evening the Saudis flood into Bahrain so that they can spend the weekend (Thursday/Friday) drinking, partying, visiting prostitutes, and all of the other things that are forbidden in their own country.

Bahrain, being much poorer that Saudia Arabia, is understandably split on this: on the one hand, it's great to take in all that money. On the other hand, being used to provide release for thousands of horny, drunk, hypocritical idiots leads to all of the expected problems...

Barnett

Pathetic. I guess the original version of the catalog would be considered porn in Saudi.

re: @ Flynne's comment about Bahrain
I think Egypt was like that for a time, too. Arab men would come from other countries to take advantage of what were looser morals in Egypt. Brought $ into the Egyptian economy but pissed off locals who couldn't understand why foreign muslims would come to Egypt and dirty it up like that.

"...drinking, partying, visiting prostitutes, and all of the other things that are forbidden in their own country."

Reminds me of Baptists when there are no other Baptists around.

The Saudis who often are involved with the non-Wahabbi world can sometimes find this inconvenient, if not actually silly. I recall the story of one Prince's promotion of a pilot from the co-pilot position to full pilot, with full certification for multi-engine jets. But she has to be driven to and from the airport.

"When women and other oppressed groups in poor countries see how their counterparts in Western societies are treated, they begin to have ideas about how they want to be treated"

I'm afraid it may be going the other way, that Western society is becoming more repressive instead. Consider for example the massive uproar about Asus's supposedly sexist tweet (http://gizmodo.com/5915473/asus-hits-bottom-with-sexist-tweet) ... gotta cover up that female form!