A Woman’s Defiance of Saudi Religious Police
“Get out of the mall?! I’ll show you who’s getting out of the mall!”
Clearly upset and outraged at being asked to leave a Saudi mall for wearing nail polish, a lone Saudi woman takes on the religious police and tells them it is they who should leave.
The woman repeatedly asks the religious police why they are following her, and in what capacity they are doing so. “The government did not send you. The government said there would be no persecution of women.”
The woman recorded the incident and posted it on Youtube. It has since received over 300,000 views. Unfortunately comments have been disabled for the video.
Woman in #SaudiArabia asked 2 leave mall 4 wearing #nailpolish! #Extreme doesn’t even cover this one! #religiouspolice http://t.co/fzRw3zmr
Having seen the video more than once I have a few questions:
There are all kinds of expat western women and girls in the malls wearing nail polish without so much as a second glance by religious police. Why have the religious police singled out this woman?
Nail polish and henna (a dye middle eastern women wear in decorative displays on their hands and face) are common in the KSA and the religious police don’t bat an eye. I have advised women myself not to wear nail polish because it keeps the nail from being wet when making ablution for prayer therefore rendering the effort (the prayer) null and void.
If the woman is on her menses, it doesn’t matter because she doesn’t have to pray. At any rate, no one would inquiry because no gives a hoot. Generally, unless it something that is really inexcusable (such as a wardrobe malfunction-’not’), some women walking around a mall with nail polish doesn’t raise any eyebrows.
The reaction of the police seems to be one of guarded bewilderment rather than unbridled hostility.
Wasn’t she arrested or taken into custody (something last I heard they were empowered to do) in cases of violation of the public moral code?
I think if anyone did research on this issue, they will find the number of women arrested for wearing nail polish amounts to a big fat zero.
So based on what it all looks like, the incident appears to be a publicity stunt by woman activist trying to make something out of nothing.
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Hamlet Act 3, scene 2