The ‘Eyes’ Have It - Saudi Style

Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all, along comes another attention-grabber that leaves one shaking one’s head. This one comes from the great KSA, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I mean, you’ve really got to hand it to the Saudis when it comes to anything regarding the fairer sex. Here is the headline that grabbed my attention:

‘Saudi Women with 'Tempting Eyes' May be Forced to Cover them Up’

I mean, you couldn’t make it up! The British Daily Mail got in on the act with: ‘Saudi women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover even them up, if resolution is passed.’ So what’s it all about? Well, seemingly, there’s this codger, Sheikh Motlab al Nabet from the sensationally-named Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, who has promulgated this action. And what caused this Government watchdog to propose such extreme action? One report on the Bikya Masr news website suggested the proposal was made after a member of the committee was attracted by a woman’s eyes as he walked along a street, provoking a fight. Deary-dear, caused a fight, huh? Just as well she wasn’t walking along the street in a bikini - that might have caused a riot! Tut-tut! The woman in question was walking with her husband who ended up being stabbed twice in the hand after the altercation. Wait a minute, what’s an armed Saudi man doing on the street anyway?

But then it segues from the ridiculous to the downright chronic. In the same week the BBC carried this item: ‘Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil.’ The codger that came to the surface with this gem is Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan. He suggested that Saudi women not only wear a full veil, or niqab, but one that reveals only one eye. Excuse me? Here is another purist who shudders to wonder what he might think if he caught the slightest glimpse of a beautiful woman’s eye - it reminds me of the lyrics to that Dr Hook song back in the 80s: ‘Sexy Eyes’ . . .

“Sexy eyes, moving 'cross the floor, couldn't want for more, sexy eyes
Sexy eyes, getting down with you, I wanna move with you, sexy eyes . . .”

Look, would somebody mind telling the Saudis that a woman’s eyes are one of her most provocative and sensual attributes. It’s every woman’s human right to show her eyes, to augment the look with cosmetics if she wants. And if a Saudi man cannot handle that, then he should look away. Nobody is forcing him to look at her eyes.

Now all of this begs the question, what about the 1 million plus non-Saudi expatriate women living in Saudi Arabia? They don’t cover up their faces so what is the difference between a Saudi man ogling the eyes of, say, a Filipina girl and a Saudi girl? Answer? There’s absolutely none!

Yes, it looks as though the ‘eyes’ have it this time!