Underwear Uproar in Saudi Arabia
There is an article today on BBC News (you can read the entire article by clicking here) on the underwear uproar in Saudi Arabia – that to buy underwear, women have to deal with male clerks. And more – there is nowhere to try on a bra to make sure you get the right fit! You have to pay, go to the public restroom, try it on and bring it back if it is not right.
One of the most amazing things to me, besides having only men selling underwear in Saudi Arabia, was the fact that the most amazing lingerie was in the most public windows. My favorite I-would-love-to-take-this-photo moments was watching abayed and niqabed women standing next to some of the tiniest, most sexy underwear you could imagine.
i know you think we are looser in the west, but you would laugh to know how restrained we really are. For the most part, we just don’t discuss underwear.
And have you noticed – in the United States, the mannekins don’t have nipples? I was shocked the first time I saw mannekins in Europe and the Middle East – the females had nipples! I had to look away! We are prudish in funny ways, in ways you can’t begin to imagine, and in ways we don’t even realize until we are confronted with our own what-we-think-is-normal.
I cannot imagine men in the ladies lingerie section. I buy all my underwear back in the US; I am too shy to buy underwear from a man! In Kuwait, they have females selling La Perla, very nice underwear, but most of the really good ready-made clothing in Kuwait is for size 00 – 2 girls – not for grown up women. It’s just easier buying my “unmentionables” discreetly on my trips back home. I carry a list. Most of us do. 😉
Here is the article:
Saudi lingerie trade in a twist
By Stephanie Hancock
BBC News, Jeddah
It would be bizarre in any country to find that its lingerie shops are staffed entirely by men.
But in Saudi Arabia – an ultra-conservative nation where unmarried men and women cannot even be alone in a room together if they are not related – it is strange in the extreme.
Women, forced to negotiate their most intimate of purchases with male strangers, call the situation appalling and are demanding the system be changed.
“The way that underwear is being sold in Saudi Arabia is simply not acceptable to any population living anywhere in the modern world,” says Reem Asaad, a finance lecturer at Dar al-Hikma Women’s College in Jeddah, who is leading a campaign to get women working in lingerie shops rather than men.
“This is a sensitive part of women’s bodies,” adds Ms Asaad. “You need to have some discussions regarding size, colour and attractive choices and you definitely don’t want to get into such a discussion with a stranger, let alone a male stranger. I mean this is something I wouldn’t even talk to my friends about.”
In theory, it should be easy enough to get women to staff lingerie shops, but parts of Saudi society are still very traditional and don’t like the idea of women working – even if it’s just to sell underwear to each other.
Rana Jad is a 20-year-old student at Dar al-Hikma Women’s College, and one of Reem Asaad’s pupils and campaign supporters.
“Girls don’t feel very comfortable when males are selling them lingerie, telling them what size they need, and saying ‘I think this is small on you, I think this is large on you’,” she says.
“He’s totally checking the girls out! It’s just not appropriate, especially here in our culture.”
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That is fascinating. I really enjoy your perspective and the articles you post.
Intlxpatr ;
what is all the fuss about lingerie in Saudi , women lingerie is just another piece of clothing , a product to be traded no more and no less .
Also there is a bond between women and salesmen for ages , i don’t know if it is still happening now in Kuwait when you get the Bia Bia man selling all kind of apparel to women door to door from an over sized bundle that he carries on his back enduring summer and winter as well as women’s bargaining .
America is such a backward country when it comes to underwear trading .It could with a lesson or two from saudi .
I remember a few years ago out shopping with a family member and going in a shop to ask for nursing bras for her. I also remember seeing very rauncy nightwear for sale . Islam actually has a very healthy attitude to Sexual matters but only in marriage . It certainly is time they allowed women to work in shops for women
Thank you, ck. We live in a fascinating world. 🙂
LOL, Daggero, lingerie is NOT “just another piece of clothing.” I don’t see a lot of peddlers in the streets of Kuwait these days, going door to door selling lingerie, but there are questions women need to ask and most women don’t want to ask MEN about questions about underwear! It’s personal!
Umm Ahmed – You can say that again! Islamic women discuss many things very openly that we rarely discuss at all, or maybe only with your very best friend that you have trusted almost since birth. When I first came to this part of the world, I was still very young, and in the middle of an afternoon coffee, one guest turned to me and asked if I was using birth control. Every head turned in my direction. I nodded, and she asked what kind. It was a very uncomfortable moment for me, but then everyone jumped into the conversation, I was off the spot, and the discussion was lively. I also think times have changed, and people discuss many topics more openly, but at the time, birth control was a private subject, not usually discussed in public – in my culture.
When I first came to Kuwait I was really put off by the men in the women’s clothing stores. I still don’t like it and find it paradoxical in a gender-segregated society. Maybe it’s prudish, but I’m not sure that it is. As to buying lingerie from a man – I can hardly think of a situation more potentially embarrassing and unnecessarily humiliating. I’ll shop for that stuff at home…thanks very much.
LLOOLL, DaisyMae, when I first read your comment, I read “I was really put off by the men in women’s clothing” and it took me a couple reads to get your meaning!
I always have my list. Underwear. Hair coloring. Poppy seeds (although people assure me they ARE legal in Kuwait, I never see them) Vanilla flavoring. Zatarain Jambalaya mix. deodorant (my particular kind). What’s on YOUR list?
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