It seems in male-dominated Muslim countries, women may not be entitled to mirth.
First, a top Turkish official last month reproached women for laughing in public, deeming such expressions immodest and a sign of the country’s moral erosion.
Now a Saudi social research centre reports that 80 per cent of people questioned in a national survey blame the scourge of sexual harassment plaguing the country on the “deliberate flirtatious behaviour” of women.
Feminist advocates in both countries dismissed the judgments as age-old reactions to changing social behaviour and a tendency in conservative cultures to accuse the victim of provoking her mistreatment. [Gulf News] Read more
