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| Saudi Arabia’s gay subculture |
| 2004-02-20 |
| Just when you thought life couldn’t get any wierder . . . . The article appears in The Independent, and was written by John R. Bradley of Arab News fame. EFL. In the glass and marble shopping malls of this cosmopolitan and comparatively laid-back city on the Red Sea, young Saudi Arabian men are taking advantage of the emergence of an increasingly tolerated Western-oriented gay scene. . . . The paradox of Saudi Arabia is that while the executioner’s sword awaits anyone convicted of the crime of sodomy, in practice homosexuality is tolerated. Like San Francisco with camels. Ibrahim bin Abdullah bin Ghaith, the head of the "Nothing to see here, just move on . . . ." In an unprecedented two-page special investigation, the daily newspaper Okaz said lesbianism was "endemic" among schoolgirls. It justified the article with a saying of the Prophet’s wife Ayesha that "there should be no shyness in religion". The article told of lesbian sex in school lavatories, girls stigmatised after refusing the advances of their fellow students, and teachers complaining that none of the girls were willing to change their behaviour. "Teenagers rebelling and defying adult authority? Never happens here!" Mr Ghaith dismissed a suggestion that he should send his "enforcers" to investigate. "Denial? I can’t be in denial; denial’s a river in Egypt, and this is Saudi Arabia. We don’t have rivers here" "This perversion is found in all countries," he told Okaz. So you’re not in denial after all, eh? "The number [of homosexuals] here is small . . . ." Spoke too soon. That assessment is contradicted by teachers and students who say that, in the absence of other outlets, a "gay" subculture has inevitably flourished among youth. One more reason to invade the Arabian Peninsula. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #10 cmon--lawrence of arabia opens his book bragging about the male humping going on in the dunes with his military companions on bivowack--its the hershey highway or the goat--they hate women anyway--arabian sunglasses are one guy's balls covering another guy's eyes during mutual fellatio--islam comes out of twisted arab tribal sexuality which is why they are such a frustrated fucked up violent people |
| Posted by: SON OF TOLUI 2004-2-21 2:10:26 AM |
| #9 Part of that's cultural. The South Vietnamese used to hold hands, too. There (usually) wasn't any significance to it. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-2-20 10:01:15 PM |
| #8 I often saw pairs Saudi soldiers walking their posts at the Riyadh airport -- holding hands affectionly. Were they gay? Ida know, but it's a whole new concept of, "walk my post in a military manner...." |
| Posted by: GK 2004-2-20 6:54:59 PM |
| #7 "Big Gay Al's Desert Kingdom"? ;) |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-2-20 6:00:19 PM |
| #6 I'd say Islam is one big gay overculture. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-2-20 5:46:37 PM |
| #5 Uhhhh, is anyone here surprised by this? I don't mean the absurd "The number [of homosexuals] here is small...." denial, I mean the obvious fact, to anyone who's been there for more than a day or two, that male-male homosexuality is rampant and an obvious response to an insanely twisted social system - i.e. Islam? When the average guy has precisely zero chance of having heterosexual contact of any significance until he's at least 30, who'd expect anything different? Though I'd rather forget, I've run directly into this fact more than once. For example, it's hard to forget coming around the corner in a hotel hallway to encounter two guys in full regalia, thobe / table cloth / fan belt / sandals, one on his knees giving the other a blow job. I've tried to flush it, but it refuses to go away. It is commonplace. Islam, through its perverse strictures, has made this the case since its inception. If a guy is not connected and monied, he either plays "ball" or he goes without for half of his lifetime. You can do the math, I'm sure. "Mother Nature" must cringe every time a child is born into Islam. Of course I have ZERO first-hand knowledge of how the femalians born into Islam deal with it, but it's obviously just as perverse and unnatural for them as it is for the males. Islam is a seriously f**ked up approach to reality and thus, not surprisingly, institutionalizes equally f**ked up behavioral responses by its victims -- apologists for Islam and homosexuality notwithstanding. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-20 5:46:16 PM |
| #4 It looks like Bradley's contract is up with Arab News. He's been publishing some pretty good articles about the "real" Soddy Arabia (apt spelling, given the content of this article!) See, for instance, this Washington Times article and contrast it with the arguments he had with Charles Johnson. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-2-20 5:41:09 PM |
| #3 There may be hope here. Lets just suppose that a "gay sub-culture" really took off and marraige and birth rates in the Kingdom fell to, well zero, would that be too much to hope for |
| Posted by: Cheddarhead 2004-2-20 5:38:30 PM |
| #2 My favorite story of "denial" came from a British history professor who told the story of the Victorian sodomy laws. It seems that Parliament passed laws against homosexual (i.e. male-male) sex which Queen Victoria signed into law. But when similar legislation came before her majesty banning lesbianism, the Queen found the idea of two women together so repellent and alien that she said it was absurd to pass a law against something that no two women would ever engage in and refused to sign it. So male homosexuality was outlawed but lesbianism wasn't! Yes, of course, it's probably apocryphal but it's a good story. |
| Posted by: JDB 2004-2-20 5:19:32 PM |
| #1 Not that there's anything wrong with it... |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-2-20 5:12:35 PM |