Unfitting? Women Must Buy Lingerie From Men in Saudi Arabia [View All]

[Emit]

Ms. Asaad and her campaigners have now decided to sidestep both the government and the religious establishment, and put pressure directly on retailers. They are calling for a boycott of all lingerie stores that are staffed by men.

Saudi lingerie trade in a twist

It would be bizarre in any country to find that its lingerie shops are staffed entirely by men.

But in Saudi Arabia - an ultra-conservative nation where unmarried men and women cannot even be alone in a room together if they are not related - it is strange in the extreme.

Women, forced to negotiate their most intimate of purchases with male strangers, call the situation appalling and are demanding the system be changed.

"The way that underwear is being sold in Saudi Arabia is simply not acceptable to any population living anywhere in the modern world," says Reem Asaad, a finance lecturer at Dar al-Hikma Women's College in Jeddah, who is leading a campaign to get women working in lingerie shops rather than men.

"This is a sensitive part of women's bodies," adds Ms Asaad. "You need to have some discussions regarding size, colour and attractive choices and you definitely don't want to get into such a discussion with a stranger, let alone a male stranger. I mean this is something I wouldn't even talk to my friends about."

In theory, it should be easy enough to get women to staff lingerie shops, but parts of Saudi society are still very traditional and don't like the idea of women working - even if it's just to sell underwear to each other.

~snip~

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7908866.stm

Unfitting? Women Must Buy Lingerie From Men in Saudi Arabia

~snip~

Adding to the problem, the kingdom's religious police have banned fitting rooms in lingerie shops along with physical contact between unmarried men and women. Shoppers can't be properly measured and are forced to buy bras without trying them on. Most are too embarrassed to return what doesn't fit.

~snip~

http://www.citizensugar.com/2865977