In Saudi Arabia, a view from behind the veil

Los Angeles Times by Megan K. Stack | Jun. 6, 2007 (Opinion)

As a woman in the male-dominated kingdom, Times reporter Megan Stack quietly fumed beneath her abaya. Even beyond its borders, her experience taints her perception of the sexes.

In the West, there's a tendency to treat Saudi Arabia as a remote land, utterly removed from our lives. But it's not very far from us, nor are we as different as we might like to think. Saudi Arabia is a center of ideas and commerce, an important ally to the United States, the heartland of a major world religion. It is a highly industrialized, ultramodern home to expatriates from all over the world, including Americans who live in lush gated compounds with ... Full Story »

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by Pamela de Maigret - Oct. 1, 2008

The Author points out that her view of Saudi Arabia is tainted by her dislike of the customs and practices of that very closed and patriarchal country. She is particularly offended by having to wear the concealing abaya and being treated as a moral threat to all men simply because she is a woman. Saudi Arabia's tribal customs are well known from years of reporting on this issue, and the only insight this article brings is in showing that enormous wealth does not assure that a "modern" or Western point of view will be adopted by all countries.