I live in The United States of America, the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
We consider ourselves to be quite the standard of western civilization.
After all, we allowed women to vote and eventually we freed the slaves.
With voting women and free blacks running amok, many people side eye my black feminist
behind and say that the conversations I have are... completely pointless.
One of the most popular arguments for this idea, is the plight of women in Saudi Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia, all women are required, by law to have a Male Guardian.
Women are considered property of their families and the State.
Unlike men who become their own guardians once they marry or become of age, a woman
must have a guardian for life.
This is because of a particularly conservative interpretation the teachings of the Prophet Mohamed.
One of them being : "It is not permissible for a woman who believes
in Allaah and the Last Day to travel the distance of one day, except with a mahram"
A Mahram being a male guardian- often their fathers or husbands, but sometimes it could
even be their sons.
Imagine being a mother, and having to ask your teenage son whether or not you could leave the house?
Well, in Saudi Arabia, women are required to gain the consent of the guardians before
they travel, and not doing so is a criminal offense.
So if a woman flees from her abusive relationship, her guardian, who is often her abuser, can
report that she escaped and once she's found she can be arrested and imprisoned for doing so.
Women who flee abusive relationships are punished for doing so because in Saudi Arabia, running
"My name is Dina Ali, I'm a Saudi woman who fled Saudi Arabia to Australia to seek asylum,"
"I stopped in the Philippines for translate.
They took my passport and lock me for 13 hours just because I am a Saudi woman, with the collaboration
of Saudi embassy.
"If my family come, they will kill me, if I go back to Saudi Arabia, I will be dead.
Please help me. I am recording this video to let people know that I'm real and that I'm here.
This was a plea from Dina Ali Lasloom, a 24 year old woman who flew to to the Philippines
with the intention of connecting to Australia; where she would seek asylum from her abusive family.
However, upon landing, her passport was taken by authorities in the Philippines with the
cooperation of Saudi Authorities and she was detained.
The video I just showed you was taken as a call to action on social media.
Her two uncles flew to the Philippines to stop her and one claimed to be her father.
"They'll kill me, I know this.
" "He's not my father.
He's not my father" "You're not helping.
You don't know them".
Her uncles kidnapped her, wrapped her in a bed sheet, and duct taped her legs together.
She was then forcefully loaded her onto a plane back to Saudi Arabia.
Today she's said to be in a detention center for women under 30.
She is just one of many women whom have tried to flee Saudi Arabia only to be apprehended
and sent back.
When she said:
"If my family come, they will kill me.
If I go back to Saudi Arabia, I will be dead.
She was referring to the very real threat of a so called "Honor Killing" that could
come as the result of her fleeing the country.
Something that's happened to many women who have tried to escape the way she had.
Women like Dina often end up in these detention centers for their entire lives and many of
them were simply trying to escape their abusers.
They're often only released once they gain the permission from their guardian.
This story shocked me when it came into my feed.
Previous conversations have lead me to following women who have escaped Saudi Arabia who were
sharing this story.
Naturally, once I was presented this information, i helped spread it where I could.
Alongside them ,however, I saw a lot of anti feminists from the West sharing the story.
They argued that Western Feminists were failing women like Dina by not drawing attention to her.
For people who despise Western Feminism, the plight of women in Saudi Arabia is enough
to argue that Feminism in the West is completely pointless.
This often comes from the idea that women in the west have privilege, and I'll be frank,
we do.
But despite what anti feminists may believe, "privilege" isn't a competition to establish
The World's Next Top Oppressed Minority.
It's a conversation about the ways in which we benefit from social biases established
before we were born.
A person may have privilege in one way, but that doesn't then mean that they do not have disadvantages.
My frustration with the vast majority of anti-feminists who jump on stories like Dina's and suggest
that feminism in the west is pointless, is that ultimately they don't do this in true
support of women.
They often do it to justify their bigotry and they often seem almost excited when stories
like this come into their feed so that they can use them to confirm their bias against
Western Feminism.
Often these are the same people who deny that things like misogyny, sexism, sexual violence
and abuse are are large enough problems to address in the West.
That's often tied to the fact that we have laws that are supposed criminalize those things
and in Saudi Arabia, the patriarchal control of women is law.
But does that then mean that Feminists in the West have nothing to discuss?
Well, there's a flaw in that argument.
This is Mashal Khan, a Pakistani Journalism student who was recently killed by his classmates
for posting "blasphemous content" on social media.
A mob of 10 students screamed "Allahu Akbar" while they beat him to death with planks until his skull caved in.
All because of a social media post.
In Pakistan it's a capital crime to insult the Prophet Mohamed.
Though only about 65 people have been executed on blasphemy charges since 1990, dozens of
people sit on death row right now, often because of simple accusations of blasphemy.
I find that the same Western Anti-Feminists from who use the "what about Saudi Arabian
Women" argument against Western Feminists, are the same ones who consider… being banned
from twitter or having their videos demonetized because of their controversial content to
be an affront to their right to freedom of speech.
Some even create entire petitions and websites dedicated to whinging about this.
Now, I could argue that these Western anti-feminists should be thankful that they aren't being
killed for posting their controversial opinions online, but that would actually make Anti-feminists
the focus of a conversation that should be about the unethical nature of blasphemy laws
that prematurely end the lives of free thinkers of Mashal Khan.
Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan don't cancel out conversations about freedom of speech in America.
In my opinion, these arguments distract from the supposed subject, which is ironic.
Some people seem more invested in keeping up the appearance that THEY are the one's
truly fighting for equality, but that's completely worthless if it's all just some
twisted game of who wore it better.
in my opinion, Western feminists can definitely do more to amplify the voices of Saudi women.
Right now western feminists are embracing the same images of modesty and conservatism
that reinforce the patriarchal systems women like Dina suffer under.
What all sides need to do is support and amplify the voices of the people who live in or have
escaped these situations.
A large part of my feminism is me speaking about what I know and experience and amplifying
those who speak to experiences I don't have.
I only know so much and can't have my eyes and ears everywhere.
Instead of chastising people for not having the information, hand it to them and see what
they do with it.
Oh… and I don't ever want to hear an anti-feminist who considered "ethics in gaming journalism"
to be a necessary conversation, say that feminists in the west have "first world problems."
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