Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Child Brides Also in Saudi Arabia

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am still seething at Maureen Dowd following her op-ed of yesterday's date, "Loosey Goosey Saudi". How dare Dowd praise the Saudi royal family for its "efforts" on behalf of women! If you have not already done so, read yesterday's blog entry, "Shame on Maureen Dowd!" (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/03/shame-on-maureen-dowd.html). Unfortunately, Dowd, who in 2009 "inadvertantly" plagiarized a blogger, knows no shame.

Today, Nicholas Kristof, in an op-ed entitled "Divorced Before Puberty" in today's New York Times, delicately ("Yemen is one of my favorite countries") addresses the practice of child brides in Yemen. My response, if The Times chooses to post it:

Nicholas, this abuse of little girls does not only occur in Yemen. Child brides are also common in Saudi Arabia.

Yesterday, Maureen Dowd in an op-ed entitled "Loosey Goosey Saudi" praised Saudi Arabia for improving the rights of women. Dowd ignored the following recent report from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8493402.stm):

"A 12-year-old girl in Saudi Arabia has withdrawn her request for a divorce from her 80-year-old husband.

The girl, from Qaseem province east of Riyadh, was married last September in return for a dowry of $22,600 (£14,174) paid to her father.

She and her mother had asked a court to annul the marriage on the grounds the girl had been raped.

But now the girl has withdrawn her petition, saying she wants to respect her father's wishes.

'I agree to the marriage. I have no objection. This is in filial respect to my father and obedience to his wish,' she was quoted as telling the court by the Okaz newspaper.

The girl's situation was made public in January when a journalist from the Al-Riyadh newspaper encountered the girl, and she begged the reporter to save her."

I was horrified by Dowd's op-ed, which also ignored "honor killings" of Saudi women. Nicholas, could you please urgently discuss these horrifying practices with Dowd when she returns from Saudi Arabia?

Will Kristof confront Dowd, who in the past has ignored my e-mails? Don't hold your breath.

4 comments:

  1. you expect much from media moguls

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  2. Hi Calabros,

    Thanks for your comments.

    If you have been following this blog, you know that I have been engaged in an ongoing battle with The New York Times concerning their ethical standards.

    Their Public Editor has tried to ignore me.

    A more senior editor, with whom I have regularly corresponded, recently promised me answers, then suddenly disappeared from sight.

    I no longer have expectations. Sad. Even pitiful.

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  3. Hi, Jeffrey!

    I was pleasantly surprised yesterday by the comments section under Doud's article. Most of commentators were critical of the article, Saudis, and even NY Times, which I did not notice before. In general, the comments looked very civilized, comparing with what we have used to. Her attempt to kick Israel was not greeted with an enthusiasm.

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  4. I agree, Marina.

    Dowd was indeed the object of much well-deserved criticism. I am still attempting to fathom the motivation underlying her horrendous op-ed.

    ReplyDelete