NYT: Saudi women inspired by Oprah

From the article:

When “The Oprah Winfrey Show” was first broadcast in Saudi Arabia in November 2004 on a Dubai-based satellite channel, it became an immediate sensation among young Saudi women. Within months, it had become the highest-rated English-language program among women 25 and younger, an age group that makes up about a third of Saudi Arabia’s population.

In a country where the sexes are rigorously separated, where topics like sex and race are rarely discussed openly and where a strict code of public morality is enforced by religious police called hai’a, Ms. Winfrey provides many young Saudi women with new ways of thinking about the way local taboos affect their lives — as well as about a variety of issues including childhood sexual abuse and coping with marital strife — without striking them, or Saudi Arabia’s ruling authorities, as subversive.

Some women here say Ms. Winfrey’s assurances to her viewers — that no matter how restricted or even abusive their circumstances may be, they can take control in small ways and create lives of value — help them find meaning in their cramped, veiled existence.

“Oprah dresses conservatively,” explained Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud, a co-owner of a women’s spa in Riyadh called Yibreen and a daughter of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States. “She struggles with her weight. She overcame depression. She rose from poverty and from abuse. On all these levels she appeals to a Saudi woman. People really idolize her here.”

Muslim women and sports

There's been quite some discussion about Saudi Arabia's ban on female athletes competing in the Olympics. Owl's recent blog post on the tensions she's encountered as a "sporty Muslima" is an interesting contribution. Excerpt:

So why is this such a taboo in the minds of so many Muslims? Well, partly I think it’s a culture clash. I notice many questioners come from ethnicities or generations where women do/did little physical activity beyond child rearing and housework, which are worthy pursuits but currently not part of my life. The idea of women wanting or enjoying sport and fitness is as foreign to them as the idea of women wanting to stay in the home all the time is to my peers. It is simply an unknown to them and they are expressing their curiosity, which is fine. Most retain an open mind and have a willingness to understand, which we all need to have.

But the rest of the complainants are men of a certain bent - men who not only disapprove of my athleticism, but also my profession, my education, and my mind. And as they cannot easily forbid me from any of those – as Islam urges education equally and allows women to earn and own – they focus on my hobby. It strikes me as a control issue, and that saddens me. I am a much more fruitful contributor to my Ummah if I am capable, strong and empowered. To be a mindless subservient would make me drain instead of a boon, and though it would probably be easier to ‘control’ me that way, it would be at a cost of the energies of my ‘controller’ and of the actualization of my own potential.

Check out the blog itself for a breakdown of the religio-cultural arguments against women exercising.

Quick hit from Jezabel

We've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. ... [Always 'asking' For It]

from Jezebel by Megan

We've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Many women in Egypt report being harassed by men, even when wearing the pictured niqab or the more common hijab. Seventy-two percent of the 83 percent of Egyptian women that reported being harassed say they were harassed while veiled. Conservative groups in Egypt are encouraging women to adopt hijabs or niqabs to avoid harassment, while some women say they gave it up entirely after experiencing so much harassment — and are harassed less without. Once again, the problem is never what the woman is wearing — or what she was drinking — it's what men feel inappropriately (or illegally) entitled to do about it. [Washington Post]

Passing through the middle east

Great piece of travel writing/intercultural musings on the fluidity of identity. Check it out.

Four young Arabs on the road in America

On the Road in America sounds like a terrific idea: four young Arabs, each from a different country, travel around the US in a quest to bridge the cultural gulf between the two cultures. Unfortunately, according to Campus Progress the effort falls flat, not because of the program's quality (full disclosure - I don't have cable and haven't seen it) but because of the inadequate distribution channel.

Because the program stars strictly voluntary participants and airs before elite audiences (even though the show is aimed at promoting broad understanding) the effect of its cable-projected lessons is significantly curtailed. A feel-good show in its truest sense, On the Road in America appeals most to those who need to hear its message the least... On the Road projects its predetermined and predictable outcome to those most likely to agree with its conclusions—while maintaining the suspicious classification of reality television. Sundance’s affluent suburban/urban viewers no doubt interact quite regularly with a diversity of individuals—in the office, at their alumni meetings, in urban cultural centers. To them, the idea that outside of culture, politics, and religion, we’re all the same comes as little surprise. Limited to an audience the network deems “independent-minded viewers seeking something different,” the show no doubt falls short of a goal to introduce previously unexposed individuals to a new way of thinking because it fails to reach the proper targets.

And yet, slews of international exchange programs (including the Fulbright and Truman programs) are based on the idea that if you can influence elites within a society, you can impact society as a whole. Hmmm...