The ‘Barbie’ doll has been deemed a threat to morality according to the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - 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 interpretation 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.
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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.
Is this another example of the “peaceful” teachings of Islam?
Quite frightening that the people continue to put up with it. I wonder what sort of psychologically-manipulative mechanisms they use to keep the people under control…surely they understand that death is preferable to a non-life.. the worst form of human violation. It’s quite upsetting. Excuse me, it seems to be time for my soma.
Comment by 9/11/2003 @ 12:28 am