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| Jenna Al Shammary (photo credit: Saudi Gazette) |
Jenna Al-Shammary, a young Saudi school girl, excitedly dons bright red lipstick for her singing debut performing a Saudi National Day song in a theater play in the conservative city of Hail, Saudi Arabia. She normally doesn't wear lipstick, but this is a special occasion and she will be on stage in front of an audience of mature adult grown men, many with young daughters of their own. Her loosely draped long shiny emerald green satin robe is emblazoned with gold Palm trees and the crossed swords of the Saudi flag. Her long dark hair flows loosely down to her waist, like many of her young Saudi schoolmates.
She is nervous but confident. Jenna has practiced singing this song over and over again, but the butterflies in her stomach make her anxious that she will flub up the words of the song.
Eleven year old Jenna nails her performance.
But to her family's horror, within days of her performance, all hell seems to break loose and it's all negatively focused on Jenna. No mention is made of her voice, her singing, her patriotism, her stage presence. All attention is placed on her physical appearance. Social media websites criticize her appearance as "immodest," calling her unimaginable names, faulting her parents for allowing such "indecency." After all, she wore red lipstick on stage and did not cover her hair from the men in the audience. Such shame!
Really? Is this what Saudi's culture and religion supports and truly believes? Sexualizing a child? Publicly criticizing a child? Calling a child names that would incite a man to want to commit murder if he ever heard those names spoken about his own mother or sister or daughter?
Leave it to the perverted minds in Saudi Arabia to turn a child's innocent song of pride for her country into a tawdry sexualized scandal. All these idiotic men could focus on was Jenna's sexuality. This is the sign of a real sickness in this society. It is truly perverse and unhealthy. They see women and children merely as sexual objects.
There is never a valid reason to attack a child in this manner. An 11 year old should not be made to feel ashamed about her appearance or be made to feel like she is a sex object for men. After all, it's not like she was dressed up on stage like Lady Gaga or Madonna or even some contestant on Toddlers and Tiaras. What she wore and how she presented herself was perfectly acceptable in any normal society in this world.
What's NOT normal is the sick reaction and criticism from a few twisted deranged men in this audience and the perpetual sexualization of women and children in this society. THAT's what needs to be criticized, not an innocent 11 year old girl.
READ MORE:
Saudi Gazette article, "Twitter users slam girl, 11, for ‘immodest’ National Day show"
That's so ridiculous! I feel sad for this little girl.
ReplyDeleteShe is a beautiful child who will someday be a beautiful woman. Those who are true representatives of the Islamic faith will support her, applaud her efforts, and help her grow into a beautiful woman. Hopefully, they can also provide the support needed to shut up the idiots and keep her safe from them.
ReplyDeleteSo sad, sorry for this child.
ReplyDeleteToo sad and incredible. This is what oppression and repression create.
ReplyDeleteI hope she does not get traumatized for life from this horrible incident! I would imagine it might be quite bad for at school too, girls can be very mean and jealous.
ReplyDeleteThese people should be ashamed of themselves and go crawl back into their cave!
Inshallah, this experience will make her a strong young woman. One valuable thing she has learned is that she can count on her father and family to support and defend her. Sadly, not all in the Magic Kingdom would have that support. Bless her heart!
ReplyDeleteSaudi men are pervs, sorry for such a blanket statement, but they are. This girl could have been 6 years old and the reaction would have been the same. It all originates from what these men were taught at a young age, watching their sisters grow up and the cultural restrictions on their mothers. I mean women can't even enter a fast food place or restaurant unless there is a family entrance. This is CULTURAL and not ISLAMIC behaviour and this is how the Kingdom controls it's society.
ReplyDeleteSad to hear this and yes, she was dressed quite modestly and she is ONLY 11 years old. And for people to tar her reputation, to say vile things about her shows the lack of character that the individual holds. HOPE and PRAY this young lady is able to overcome the stigma forced upon her for being a female.
ReplyDeleteSad ..Nothing to do with Islam or culture, its pure lack of humanity..Big time disaster...They easily forget that, they have/may have daughter, sister, mother or grandmother. They are from special planet ... the name of that planet is yet to be discovered..
ReplyDeleteOh dear - what a terrible and ultimately tragic attitude.
ReplyDeleteForcing pre-puberty girls to wear head scarves in public in countries like Iran, KSA, Pakistan and Afghanistan definitely sexualises them by suggesting they are desirable and available. A child is a headscarf s no longer a child, but a woman in their eyes. However, the child beauty pageants in America are the other side of the coin - also sexualising young girls to look like adolescent sexpots. For one brief century, female children were allowed to be children, the western media and fashion designers sexualise 5 & 6 year olds - look at the rise of sexual abuse crimes against children. No culture is immune from this vice of falsely perceiving young females as sex objects. How can this vile attitude be changed from all cultures, not only those of the ME?
ReplyDeleteAs a Saudi. From a triple. I swear I will cut her head with a sword
ReplyDeleteNice! Yeah, you're a REAL man, hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. What do you think you are doing here in the 21st century with the rest of us civilized folks? Go back to your cave and pound on your chest in the dark.
DeleteYou know, you are talking about an 11 year old child here - you do realize that, right? What kind of an inhumane psycho are you?
DeleteHello...this is unrelated to this blog post but since you moderate your board I thought it would be okay to post. I have followed your blog for several years. It is fascinating. As a woman I could never live in SA but kudos to you. And thank you for sharing your experiences. Anyway I saw this article in Foreign Policy and thought you might find it interesting... http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/29/questioning_the_faith_in_the_cradle_of_islam_wahhabi_fundamentalism_saudi_arabia?utm_content=buffera7289&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
ReplyDelete