This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Authorities detained a Saudi woman on Saturday after she launched a campaign against the driving ban for women in the ultraconservative kingdom and posted a video of herself behind the wheel on Facebook and YouTube to encourage others to copy her.
Manal al-Sherif and a group of other women started a Facebook page called "Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself," which urges authorities to lift the driving ban. She went on a test drive in the eastern city of Khobar and later posted a video of the experience.
"This is a volunteer campaign to help the girls of this country" learn to drive, al-Sherif says in the video. "At least for times of emergency, God forbid. What if whoever is driving them gets a heart attack?"
Human rights activist Walid Abou el-Kheir said al-Sherif was detained by the country's religious police, who are charged with ensuring the kingdom's rigid interpretation of Islamic teachings are observed.
Al-Sherif was released hours later, according to the campaign's Twitter account. The terms of her release were not immediately clear.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to ban women - both Saudi and foreign - from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and those who cannot afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor.
Women are also barred from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years, and no woman can sit on the kingdom's Cabinet. Women also cannot travel without permission from a male guardian and shouldn't mingle with males who are not their husbands or brothers.
The campaigners have focused on the importance of women driving in times of emergencies and in the case of low-income families. Al-Sherif said unlike the traditional argument in Saudi Arabia that driving exposes women to sinful temptations by allowing them to mingle with policemen and mechanics, women who drive can avoid sexual harassment from their drivers and protect their "dignity."
Through Facebook, the campaigners are calling for a mass drive on June 17 and more than 12,000 people viewing the page have indicated they support the call. To encourage women to get behind the wheel, al-Sherif went for a drive on Friday as another activist filmed her.
Dressed in a headscarf and the all-encompassing black abaya all women must wear in public, al-Sharif said not all Saudi women are "queens" who can afford to hire a driver. She extolled the virtues of driving for women, saying it can save lives, and time, as well as a woman's dignity. Al-Sharif said she learned how to drive at the age of 30 in New Hampshire.
"We are humiliated sometimes because we can't find a taxi to take us to work," she said.
On their Facebook page, the group says women joining the campaign should not challenge authorities if they were stopped and questioned, and should abide by the country's strict dress code.
"We want to live as complete citizens, without the humiliation that we are subjected to every day because we are tied to a driver," the Facebook message reads. "We are not here to break the law or demonstrate or challenge the authorities, we are here to claim one of our simplest rights."
I think having a vote but not removing the patriarchy protection was a mistake. That puts women in a unique position that they can vote for stuff but men are obligated to supply them. Can't have a vote without equal responsibility. Its like women voting to go to war. If women don't fight in war and can't be drafted then its a bit unfair they can vote to send men to war.
Giving women the right to vote was a mistake.
On April 28, hundreds of NOW activists and allies gathered around the country to make sure politicians know that women "do not want to work until we drop!" About a dozen actions in various states drove home the message that NOW opposes increasing the retirement age to 69 years -- something that conservatives in Congress are pushing. Activists also protested the proposed dismantling of Medicare and block-granting of Medicaid.
Yeah the name kind of implies that's what they offer, not what they prevent.Quote
Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre
Well, the word Prevention isn't part of the centre's name, is it?
I'm currently building an electric bike. 72 volt. There are some interesting ones out. In fact you can buy the shell and kits.
I have been looking at the electric bikes and am tempted. They are so darn quiet though...I worry no one would know you were there
You can always install a sound system, a sensor on the right handle and a small ECU which simulates exhaust sound... and then you can select the sound in software.
Interesting. I thought men were all about just getting it in and out and leaving yet look at the differences in sex toys. Tons of them for women and nothing like this. Could it be men want something MORE and maybe something that requires a bit of interaction too instead of the old claim of "in-out-get out!" society portrays us as wanting?
She strikes me as an "I'm every guy's friend" type. I've met women like that before. They go out of their way to surround themselves with guys who they never put out for but want to be friends with. Now I'm not saying this is her obviously.
I am surprised that no one has said anything about what an attractive, smart, and apparently sensible young lady this is.
I'll tell you what. She is about as decent of a young lade as exists it seems to me. Nevertheless, I wouldn't want to be "hitched" to her.
No matter how sincere she may be, when the time is right, she'll probably take advantage of all the legal mechanisms available to her to torture her man.