Sunday, April 3, 2011

Ix-nay on Mentioning Mater's Ame-nay

An article on the Arab News site offers this window into Wahhabi weirdness:
JEDDAH: Saudi men say they are reluctant to give their mother’s names to male acquaintances, arguing that their traditions and culture are all about keeping women out of men’s minds.
 Some say that if a man knew his friend’s mother’s name, it is seen as shameful.
 “I remember back when I was in high school, two guys started a fight as one of them has been telling his friend’s mother’s name to other pupils,” said Waheeb Atallah, a 29-year-old marketer.

“It was so intense that the school administration had to intervene. At the end of the day, we asked them about the fight and one of them said that mentioning a mother’s name in his tribe is taboo and that’s why he started a fight.”

The problem is not simply a matter of someone knowing the name of a person’s mother, according to Khaled Al-Harby, a 34-year-old schoolteacher, but rather it is when a man knows the name and then starts mocking it in public.

“This strange attitude is usually prevalent among young tribal men. They want to keep their female family members in a sacred place where no other men can reach them or even know they exist,” he said.

“What happens is that when other men know anything about your female family members they start teasing you about them using a sarcastic tone that annoys you and makes you want to punch them in the face.”...
"In a sacred place"--i.e. locked up and hidden away. And all so Saudi boys won't have to hear the equivalent of "yer mother wears army boots."

What needs to be "mocked" here is the immaturity of the "tribal" male along with what seems like the tribe guy's pathological aversion to mockery (and pathological need to subjugate womenfolk).

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