Saudi Arabia Lashes a Man - Credit Where Credit is Due

The desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia isn't the best advertisement for Islam. Particularly the way the leadership seems to focus on those women and their evil ways. Exposing both eyes for just anybody to see! Imagine!

This time, Saudi authorities sentenced a man to get lashed.

And, I think they have a point.

"A Saudi court on Wednesday sentenced a man who caused uproar by bragging about his sex life on television to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes, according to Ministry of Information officials.

"Mazen Abdul Jawad, a 32-year-old airline employee and divorced father of four, spoke openly about his sexual escapades, his love of sex and losing his virginity at age 14. He made the comments on Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, which aired the interview a few months ago.

"Saudi authorities shut down LBC offices in Jeddah and Riyadh after airing the interview on an episode of its popular show 'A Thick Red Line.' Abdul Jawad was arrested shortly after the program aired and charged with violating Saudi Arabia's crime of publicizing vice.

"On the program, Abdul Jawad is also shown in his bedroom, where he holds sexual aids up to the camera. The episode ends with him cruising the streets of Jeddah in his car looking for women...."
(CNN)

Mazen Abdul Jawad's apologized, and is thinking of filing a complaint, by the way: he says the show's people took a two-hour interview and boiled it down to the really juicy parts. If Saudi media works the way American media does, he probably has a point.

Still: some dude who's old enough to know better, showing off sex toys and going off to cruise for chicks - on camera?! In Saudi Arabia?!!

In a way, he deserves a lashing: for world-class stupidity. Paraphrasing the song title, "what was he thinking?"

I suppose I'm not broad minded enough to 'understand' the situation. I was born in an American subculture where you didn't call women 'broads,' 'dames,' or terms that might get this blog in trouble. I understand the terms 'chicks' and 'babes' are in more common use, now. I didn't need the bra-burning branch of women's lib to tell me that women were people.

Even now, after all the (progress?) America has gone through, I'm not really sure that chicks dig the idea of being seen mainly as a plaything: something for a dude to try out his new toy on.

But then, I'm very much out of step with the times.

Back to the Saudi sentence: I think the lashing thing is a bit over-the-top; on the other hand, the dude pulled a really dumb stunt - acting like that, on camera, in Saudi Arabia. You'd think he was a dumb blond.

Related posts:

• "Saudi Women Protest Lingere Shops - It's Not What You Might Think"
  (March 26, 2009)
• "House of Saud Lashes Old Woman: Another Tale from the Weird Side"
  (March 10, 2009)
• "Saudi Arabia Bans Valentine's Day - and the Color Red"
  (February 10, 2009)
• "An Egyptian Doctor, a Saudi Princess, and 1,500 lashes"
  (November 11, 2008)
• "Saudi Cleric Wants Women to Use One Eye - I'm Not Making This Up"
  (October 4, 2008)

In the news:

• "Saudi sex braggart gets 5 years, 1,000 lashes"
  CNN (October 7, 2009)