Saudi police say Barbie dolls a threat to morality

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Headache in a Suitcase

Site Team
Staff member
Joined
Jul 16, 2000
Messages
75,652
Location
With the other morally corrupt bootlicking rubes.
cnn.com

Saudi police say Barbie dolls a threat to morality
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Posted: 9:25 AM EDT (1325 GMT)

RIYADH, Saudi 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.

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 interpreation 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."

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.

Vice police officials were not available for comment Monday.

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, the creation of California-based Mattel Inc., are found on the black market, where a contraband doll could cost 100 riyals (US$27) or more.

"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 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.

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.

The muttawa act as a monitoring and punishing agency, propagating conservative Islamic beliefs according to the teachings of the puritan Wahhabi sect, adhered to the kingdom since the 18th century, and enforcing strict moral code.

The muttawa patrol the streets of the kingdom, preventing men from mingling with women, enforcing strict Islamic dress for women, chasing worshippers late for prayers, and punishing shop keepers who stay open during prayer hours. They sometimes work with a police officer who can enforce legal punishments on people deemed violators.
 
I recently read Jean Sasson's "Princess Trilogy" about life as a woman in Saudi Arabia. Because of these damn morality police and the Wahhabist interpretation of Islam in general women don't have any rights and every other thing is "indecent". It's a bad situation.
 
Well her improbable measurements give girls false goals as to what a woman should look like, but is it immoral? No. But if they want we can send them a bunch of George Bush dolls.
 
Barbie is immoral. We all know the facts about if she were a real female she would not menstruate and would suffer severe osteoperosis. She spent years hooked up with Ken before trotting down the aisle, she dresses like a hooker and has enough pan cake on her face to do the entire cast of 'Cats'.

That aside, we all know Barbie is just Barbie, I had them when I was young and so will my daughter if she wants them. They are just a doll and do not factually represent any physical person.

No one should aspire to be Barbie. Though these guys are getting a little over the top by our comparitively easy going Western ideals.
 
Angela Harlem said:
Barbie is immoral. We all know the facts about if she were a real female she would not menstruate and would suffer severe osteoperosis.

Beyond that, if she were a real female she would have to *walk on all fours* because of her measurements!!!! :eek: :rolleyes:

this reminds me of how the only American TV program India received for years was "Baywatch." Of course they grow up with a bad idea of American morals!
 
I read the article and decided not to post it. I have been cutting back on my posting time here in FYM partly for a break, and partly because I am so busy teaching and correcting.

The article made me laugh. I think I have mentioned here that I used to work Security at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston. There were many from the Saudi Royal family that stayed with us. Some were decent people, and some came to hide during the Gulf War.

The Princes loved the college girls from Emmerson college. They would pick them up, bring them to the bar, liquor them up, and give them lots of jewelry ect. By day three or four, the nice looking young college girl was not acting so innocent any more. The style of clothes the girls wore changed....and two times while driving girls with the princes up to their floor, the prince had someone video taping while he had the girls flashing various body parts.

Others from the Royal family run a scam where they advertise that they are looking for models. They pay to fly the person to Boston. The person checks in thinking that the Model agency is paying for the room. In reality, it is a member of the royal family and they are not looking for a model. They are looking for sex, and if you do not put out, they do not pay nor do they get you a return ticket to go home. I have seen them pull this on men and women.

I have seen the King of Saudi Arabia tell a doorman that if he were in Saudi Arabia he would have his hands and his balls for helping his wife out of the limo as she had stumbled and he touched her arm.

I have seen a prince buy seven of everything from Victoria's Secrets and have it delivered to the hotel.

I have seen the entire staff be fired by royalty because there was no one to trim the King's beard in the barber shop on the 4th of July.

This barbie thing....makes me laugh...and laugh...because the people over there have no clue how much their royalty love America.
 
Last edited:
I probably would have been fired for telling the King off. I just can't fathom a culture with such hatred towards a gender. Man I love women, I go out of my way to show the upmost respect to women. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, it sounds like it would get me in lots of trouble over there.
 
Angela Harlem said:
She spent years hooked up with Ken before trotting down the aisle

I think this is setting a good example for young girls though. Just take off Kens pants and it's obvious Barbie was dating him for his personality.
 
that's because he couldn't remove his underwear. Barbie, however, had no underwear. Reminds me of my mom yelling at my sister and I for leaving our Barbies lying around naked as if it was scandalous or something.

On that note, why do the Saudis think Barbie is Jewish? I mean, what makes Barbie Jewish?
 
sharky said:
On that note, why do the Saudis think Barbie is Jewish? I mean, what makes Barbie Jewish?

It's comments like those that also make me not as much of a fan of Saudi Arabia as the Bush Administration I guess.

Melon
 
melon said:


It's comments like those that also make me not as much of a fan of Saudi Arabia as the Bush Administration I guess.

Melon

Generally speaking I agree. However I do believe that there are plenty of decent people in that country, they just aren't in positions of power.
 
Yet another reason why I'm SO glad to be born an Australian. And some people here in Australia wonder why people come to us as 'illegal' immigrants from these middle eastern countries - Gees, when a kid can't even play with a barbie doll....What a sad world we live in:(
 
haha...I seriously don't think any harm will come from kids not being allowed to play with barbies.
greater restrictions to human rights have been done with far more serious consequences
 
melon said:


It's comments like those that also make me not as much of a fan of Saudi Arabia as the Bush Administration I guess.

Melon


... or the clinton administration... or bush 1... or reagan...

the united states has a history of over looking things done by the Saudi's... wether that be with a Republican or a Democrat in office. I also dislike Bush's handling of Saudi Arabia... but Clinton played the same game.
 
hmm...true. and come to think of it, isn't plastic made from oil? so aren't the saudis prejudice against their own product, a product that our presidents love?
 
I really don't understand why Barbie gets such a bad rap....I had a trunk full of Barbies as a kid and never once thought I would grow up to look like her. It's a toy; if parents are worried about a child's body image they should take an active role in reassuring thier child that they are fine the way they are.

However, I fully understand why Barbie is the devil in places like Saudi Arabia. I believe it's more of a woman issue than a "Barbie" issue.
 
WildHoneyAlways said:
I really don't understand why Barbie gets such a bad rap....I had a trunk full of Barbies as a kid and never once thought I would grow up to look like her. It's a toy; if parents are worried about a child's body image they should take an active role in reassuring thier child that they are fine the way they are.

However, I fully understand why Barbie is the devil in places like Saudi Arabia. I believe it's more of a woman issue than a "Barbie" issue.

You're right. It's part of the "keep women hidden" mentality that rules that country. Barbie doesn't fit their "female modesty" rules since she doesn't come with a veil.
 
Some folks have odd ideas about what's morally right, that's for sure. I have a sister-in-law who I very much respect, but once told me that Star Trek had "stinky morals". I was so astonished that I couldn't stick up for my Federation friends.:ohmy:

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER
 
Last edited:
I know of some Saudi Royal girls, and yea, they are not what you would have pictured.... I mean, they are as modern as one can get, and bloody rich...

Saudi is just an example, of how a few rich people can screw a country by their morphed, self-greedy ideals....

Really, most countries are just as screwed...

Saudi has a messed up form of opression towards women that the Wahabbis have implemented... The West has this ideal of freedom and equality for women, but, when you look at all the magazines on the shelf of the grocery store, what do you see, naked women....

Lets face it, this world is messed up...
 
Speaking of the "morality police."
Did you hear about the girls that burned to death in a school? Their school was burning, but they were not allowed to leave, because they weren't "properly attired." So, they stayed in
the school and were burned alive.
 
Last edited:
The "Jewish" Barbie doll caught my eyes as well. But rather than being surprised I just rolled my eyes?.

Thos regimes have a way of explaining so many things with a Jewish conspiracy. Usually the Israeli 'Mosad' (our CIA) is involved in those crazy paranoid explanations as well.
Just one example ? according to some of them, 9/11 was actually the work of the 'Mosad'. Sad thing is, a lot of people there believe it.
 
Back
Top Bottom