Women tentatively rebelling in Saudi Arabia.

Image: A 'daring' piece of arm from a Saudi FB page. From WebProNews.

Here in the West we have always had some difficulty in persuading the fairer sex that we men know what’s best for them. Try as we might, women not only refuse to accept this simple truth, they actually appear to resent the very suggestion. “Let me take you away from here and show you how to dress modestly and avoid the attentions of other men,” is not a recommended pickup line in Australia. It may work better in the US.

In Saudi Arabia though, they have a God who has decreed that things are totally different there. Women are subservient and do as they are told even down to the way they dress and are freed from dangerous ideas of independence by strict principles of Sharia law, enforced by the morals police. Latest reports though indicate the first stirrings of rebellion are in the air:

There is an emerging trend among young Saudi women who post pictures of parts of their body without revealing their identity. Journalist Mariyam Jaber said she found several social websites where just the body parts of what appears to be Saudi women are displayed, such as feet, just the body or even fingernails, but without betraying her identity.

“This reveals a woman’s desire to liberate herself from social restrictions and express herself, and Facebook or other networking sites are the easiest platforms to achieve this,” she said.

The number of Saudis on Facebook is estimated at 2.3 million out of the 5 million in the Gulf. According to figures, 29 percent of Saudi Internet users visit Facebook and women under 25 account for 48 percent of all Internet users in the Kingdom.

“Most women on social networking sites use fake names. By displaying parts of their body and sometimes in glittering colors, young women must be achieving some sort of gratification or release of their emotions while anonymity guarantees them immunity from social censure or parental displeasure,” said Amal Al-Saleh, a university graduate. …

But help is at hand. The cause has been identified:

Professor of Social Sciences at Umm Al-Qura University Mahmoud Al-Kesnawi warned the spare time a young woman has at her disposal because of spinsterhood or unemployment is a factor that prompts her to seek refuge in computers and mobile phones.

Saudi Arabia is probably one of the most oppressive Islamic regimes as far as the treatment of women is concerned, equal if not worse than Iran. While this development does not in itself represent a major turnaround, it does give some sign of a changing view by younger people, especially women. The dour nature of Islamic rule may be sewing the seeds of its own destruction as wider communication via the web gives its subjects windows into a much freer world that they will aspire to be part of.

The threat offered by Western values to tyrants the world over is not military, but is the philosophy of liberty.