Lubna Al-Khamis Every now and then jokes about Saudi women spread on Twitter. The jokes are cruel because they make fun of the character of women. In these jokes, women are always obese, not beautiful, have black marks around their knees because they sit all the time, and fear competition from Moroccan, Syrian, Lebanese, etc. women. The jokes even go so far as to mock the lifestyle of Saudi women, saying that they eat copious amounts of desserts and food and attend social get-togethers with their female friends to backbite and gossip about other ladies. This month, the cruel and unfair jokes not only appeared on Twitter, but were also heard on some comedy programs being aired in Ramadan. The comedy show WiFi, which is shown on MBC, played a segment about a Saudi husband, his first Saudi wife, and his second Syrian wife. The Syrian wife appeared to be very feminine and beautiful while the Saudi wife was depicted as an obese woman who did not have any self-confidence, etiquette or elegance. Apparently, the Saudi husband was head over heels in love with his Syrian wife, and every time the Saudi wife got mad, the husband soothed her with some words which he clearly did not mean. The question is: Why are Saudi women described in this way? The answer lies in the culture of the denigration of women in this society and in the fact that a large section of society believes that women should have less freedom than men. Sometimes men treat women as if they own them. This treatment has prevented women from exercising at school and women cannot sign up for a women's gym to keep healthy and fit because it is not proper for women to go out. Many women today feel depressed and let down because they have spent their entire life with husbands who were strict and lacked emotions, husbands who never utter kind words to their wives. That is why a romantic husband is something which is very rare these days. All these jokes and comedy clips about women commend and praise the beauty of women from other nationalities but belittle the beauty of Saudi women. It is high time we stopped spreading such jokes which on the surface appear to be said for fun but in reality enhance the culture of disrespect.
