Job Discussion Forums

[cmp45]

nooooo that's not at all what I was thinking or implying.... honestly just think men should be treated as strictly as women are with regards to dress codes. Whats good for the goose should be good for the gander? No?

[Cleopatra]

[Queen of Sheba]

Men should not wear tight jeans, indeed when I was in Cairo they were advising the students at AUC that wearing tight jeans could inhibit their reproductive abilities. We can only hope. Anyway, the muttawa and even regular non muttawa types, as well as non-Muslims are offended when they see men and women wearing shorts in KSA. Especially short tight ones the fluffy guys wear when they run where I live. This isn't the country for this behavior, and otherwise normal people may become muttawa at that point for this type of blatant disrespect for the laws and culture. I stick to my age old adage; if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen - don't wear shorts.

[cmp45]

obviously I am talking about in public; I agree that there is pressure for Saudi men to conform at work. I mean in terms of the western clothes that Saudi and non-Saudi men wear after work which to me as I have witnessed in public places seem in many instances to be extremely tight fitting. Batha, Olaya Street to name a few or one only has walk in any mall and can see these people. Obviously women have to cover up in public, but I have seen plenty of instances where men dress in outrageously tight fitting clothes. Obviously Saudi Society is not as concerned with men's virtue as they are with women in PUBLIC places. I understand that women are free to wear what ever in private, but if women must cover up in public then it seems the men should as well. It just strikes me that there is an evident double standard.

I don't know how you manged to get the idea of men dressing in womens clothes from my post...????

[trapezius]

^ I agree with you, and I don't know how Cleopatra managed to completely mutilate what you are saying.

Anyway, there are rules for dress in Islam for both men and women. Tight dress is completely out the window for both men and women.

When women violate their rules in public even a tiny bit, the mutawwa seems to jump all over them. For example, in Jeddah, if a woman has just half her hair showing in a mall, she could be accosted by one of them fine men shouting at her to cover her hair. And in Riyadh and other conservative cities, even if a woman is perfectly covered, but her face is open (face, not hair), they might, can, and do shout at her to cover her face as well. (even though, one must notice, that the majority of Muslims believe that the face can be left uncovered)

But when it comes to men, they have more freedom to flout the rules specific to them, relatively speaking. For example, when youngsters wear shorts, they are generally told not to wear them, even in Jeddah (although shorts in public for men are not haram as long as they cover the knees). However, the youngsters seem to get away with wearing excessively tight clothing, and the mutawwa seem not to bother with it (maybe they like it? ) at all.

Of course men have more freedom than women in Islam, esp when it comes to public life, but the point here is that even though they already can and do more things than women can, they still try to, and succeed in, breaking the relatively lenient limits set for them, and get away with it, whereas women don't have the luxury to stretch their already asphyxiated freedoms even a tiny bit without someone getting into a fit, and on top of that, some even try to and succeed in shrinking their religion-given freedoms.

So it seems to be a case of "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer", with "rich" and "poor" referring to freedom, not wealth.[/i]

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

[Cleopatra]

[cmp45]

LOL

[The_Prodiigy]

A large water-theme park an hour or more's drive into the desert from Riyadh insisted that chaps swim and use water slides only whilst wearing a T-shirt to cover their nips.

There was no wet T-shirt competition that day.

It is common for Muts to request fellas to refrain from wearing body-hugging garments.

[Queen of Sheba]

I think the day has come...when...Prodigy has made sense.

Mutawwas can under Islamic guidelines, and should harrass men for indecent attire that contradicts Islamic standards. While yes, there is a double standard with upholding islamic attire amongst men and women, and there shouldnt be, when a mutawwa or irratated non-mutawwa feels like it, they can and do get upset about it.

Deal with it boys, I feel no mercy for you.

[Van Norden]

[Cleopatra]

One can't be all that bright if one expects that standards of public modesty - for either gender - would be the same in Saudi Arabia as in whatever grim English town they crawled out of.

So a couple of male ESL teachers couldn't admire one another's bare chests as they careened down the water slide? So they are upset because they couldn't strut their stuff in 'body hugging garments'? Whatever - I imagine different things bother different people. I suppose if you looked like thishttp://www.readersread.com/pics/ericbana.gif or thishttp://ashleykathbilsky.com/db1/00057/ashleykathbilsky.com/_uimages/gerard-butler-300-3.jpg
then some of us might see things rather differently.

But you don't, do you?

[Queen of Sheba]

Bravo Bravo! In fact bravissimo! The words of Cleopatra herself could not have been more appropriate.

[Cleopatra]

The words? You mean you've got nothing to say about the pics?

Or are you a lady who doesn't know true beauty when she sees it?

[Queen of Sheba]