TRAVEL BLOGCheesy Souvenirs + Famous Landmarks = Very Cool Travel PicsGreyhound Canada (and Its Passengers) Can’t Catch a BreakThe Paris Greeters: Helping Dispell Notions of ‘Inhospitable Locals’Forget About Having a ‘G’Day, Mite’
SPEAKER'S CORNER
Vagrant Ruminations of a Compulsive TravelerWhere does the urge to hunt for that “fleeting fix of elsewhere” come from? Peter Wortsman recalls a life of travel inspiration. Q&A
Rolf Potts: Revelations from a Postmodern Travel WriterHis new book “Marco Polo Didn’t Go There” includes his best stories from the past 10 years. Michael Yessis asks him how travel writing has changed in the last decade—and what he sees for the future. AUDIO SLIDESHOW Notes From an Unofficial Tourist GreeterSummer is over, and so is Julia Ross‘ season as an ambassador to travelers in Washington, D.C.’s Woodley Park neighborhood. She’s happy to be off duty. THE LIST
10 Great Travel Race MoviesSlow travel is well and good. But there’s something irresistible about a great travel race movie. World Hum Travel Movie Clubbers Eva Holland and Eli Ellison share their favorite vicarious thrill rides. HOW TO
Eat Ceviche in LimaGrab a Cusqueña and get comfortable. As Nicholas Gill explains, a trip to a Peruvian cevichería can be an all-day immersion in good conversation and raw seafood. ASK ROLF
How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel BOOKS
Unsentimental Journeys: Wrestling With Paul TherouxBronwen Dickey considers “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Great Railway Bazaar” |
TRAVEL BLOG6.6.07
A Western Woman in Saudi Arabia: ‘The Rules Are Different Here’
She’s told she has to sit in the roped off “family section” at Starbucks and struggles to evade the religious police while interviewing a male government official. But it’s having to wear traditional Islamic dress that stirs her resentment most. “By the time I boarded the plane, I was in a temper. I yanked at the clasps, shrugged off the abaya like a rejected embrace. I crumpled it up and tossed it childishly into the airplane seat,” she writes. “Then I was just standing there, feeling stripped in my jeans and blouse. My limbs felt light, and modesty flashed through me. I was aware of the skin of my wrists and forearms, the triangle of naked neck. I scanned the eyes behind me, looking for a challenge. But none came. The Saudi passengers had watched my tantrum impassively.”
Related on World Hum:
Photo by Alan Light via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Categories: Weblog • Saudi Arabia 
Permalink • Comments (2)
COMMENTSThanks for this, it was a great article. I’ve always been a little puzzled by the free pass Saudi Arabia seems to have been given on this issue; the contrast with Western concern for the welfare of Afghan women is apt. Throughout my undergrad I fought a running battle with my (mostly male) colleagues in African and Middle Eastern history classes about the limits of cultural sensitivity. It’s tricky stuff and the author here has really worked through it thoughtfully. By on 6.7.07 at 12:14 PM
The limits of cultural sensitivity-- that’s a good way to put it, Eva. Worth pondering. A fascinating and depressing story. By Marilyn Terrell on 6.8.07 at 08:54 PM
ADD YOUR COMMENT
We reserve the right to remove comments with profanity, personal attacks, spam, overt advertisements or other inappropriate material.
|
Latest from the Travel Channel‘The Amazing Race’ Comes to Travel Channel
Anthony Bourdain: ‘No Reservations’
Subscribe to World Hum's RSS feed. 
Got a suggestion? Follow World Hum on Twitter Check out our take on the BLOG CATEGORIES
Adventure Travel |
||||||||||||||||||
As a woman, I relish the freedom of traveling alone but admit there are times and places where gender matters. Just last week, on my first trip to Vietnam, I found myself fending off aggressive touts and motorcycle taxis on every street corner in Hanoi while male tourists walked by unnoticed. An annoyance, but nothing on par with Los Angeles Times reporter Megan Stack’s experiences in Saudi Arabia. In a 
