Imagine the following scenario: a woman visits one of the many lingerie shops here, and discovers that she has to buy it from a man. Questions like size, shape and comfort instantly dissolve within her mind, and she is left with three pathetic options: quietly buy something and try it on later, swallow her embarrassment and ask the salesmen for advice, or there's always Internet shopping, right? Discussing the issue of lingerie shops in Saudi Arabia is probably as taboo a subject as it gets. However, there are women in this country - many of them covering themselves and limiting their interaction with men - who do need all kinds of clothes, and I'm quite sure that most of them would prefer not to tell a man what size underwear they need. This is exactly what irks Reem Asaad, the campaign leader of the “Ban men from selling lingerie in KSA” Facebook group that's gathering steam and leading a nationwide boycott of all lingerie brands in the Kingdom that do not have saleswomen. The campaign is not a legal crusade of any sort. The necessary legislation for this issue has already been issued (Saudi Labor Law No. 120) - in 2006 actually - but the execution of it is still something the women of Saudi Arabia are waiting for. This is not the illogical ramblings of one who has nothing better to do. Reem Asaad is a lecturer in Finance and Investment at the Dar-al-Hekmah girls' college in Jeddah, and is a reputed writer and contributor for both the Al Eqtisadiah and Al Tadawul magazines. She started the campaign in July 2008 as a direct consequence of lingerie brands failing to comply with the above legislation. Her Facebook group distributed a petition against store owners announcing a Jan. 1, 2009 deadline for employing saleswomen or face a boycott. Why exactly are Reem and her supporters campaigning, though? Lingerie stores are still frequented by women and the idea that women here will start buying lingerie off the internet en masse is an empty threat. However, Reem is intent on dispelling this pessimism. Her personal discomfort stems from a natural instinct within most women that makes the most private area of shopping for them a cringe-worthy experience. “The cause (of discomfort) is that lingerie is being sold by men. I recognized that something was wrong, and I launched this campaign,” she said. Reem asserts that what she is asking for is not special privileges for women but the right for women to invoke their consumer rights and be able to purchase undergarments from saleswomen if they should so wish. Reem's campaign has taken the rational and practical route and bypassed the traditionalists and the Government to direct its wrath instead on the retail industry. “I knew that there would be some impediment in the implementation of this law so I thought I need to make this a consumer or retail industry related issue,” she explained. “One of the issues that has been used as an excuse for deferring the implementation of the law is that there are not enough trained women or saleswomen. However, I can refute that by questioning whether these lingerie salesmen are trained and skilled,” Reem pointed out. By making this a consumer rights issue, Reem has effectively killed two birds with one stone. There is no risk of entanglement with the religious establishment and her campaign's boycott of lingerie stores means that if the number of women supporting her cause grows, the sales of these stores will eventually be affected enough to attract attention. “We will continue to boycott until the boycott causes enough financial loss to these stores for them to abide by the law and respect the privacy and the consumer rights of the women here,” claimed Reem.. Reem's Facebook group currently boasts of more than 1500 people so I asked her whether Facebook didn't seem a rather constricted medium for her campaign. “Facebook is the fastest way to distribute anything. I don't see a more popular way these days than to get it on Facebook or YouTube,” she said. Reem has additionally gotten a lot of support from students and colleagues at Dar-Al-Hekmah college, and she specifically mentions College Dean Dr. Suhair Al-Qurashi. According to Reem, Dr. Al-Qurashi has shown practical support. “She decided to take the initiative by offering training for 200 women in Jeddah in order for them to hit the ground running when these stores announce that they will implement the law.” A large number of increasingly vocal women in Saudi Arabia – Saudi and expatriate alike – have used the Facebook group to vent their frustration at the current situation. “If the problem is with women interacting with men, how right is it for a woman to be asking a man to get her a size of her lingerie?” wrote one irate woman in Reem's Facebook group. Like most women-related issues in Saudi Arabia, this one has also received much attention in the international media, with many leading news agencies picking up the story and many Facebook users offering their support. Most are simply baffled by how a country that strives to limit interaction between men and women in the public sphere, can allow men to sell lingerie to women. Interestingly, they are not giving this issue the same old ‘let's-liberate-Saudi-women' treatment. Instead, they are embracing this issue the way Reem has presented it – as one of consumer rights. One female member even offered to write to the CEOs of the British companies on Reem's list of stores to boycott, and demand that the situation be changed. Owing either to the populist appeal of Facebook or the sheer absurdity of this issue, a large number of bloggers have also rallied to the cause. “For me, it's not about buzz phrases like ‘women's lib,' or ‘human rights.' Nor does it have anything to do with questioning different cultural and religious attitudes, or interfering in Saudi politics. The issue is a straightforward case of affording people a say in matters surrounding their everyday life,” writes Robert Bonnett, a blogger who took up the story. For anyone that has forgotten the news of the 2006 legislation (which is most people), Reem's campaign is a wake-up call, and it is why supporting Reem's campaign is so pertinent. Reem's next step is a formal, public launch of her campaign in about ten days, where she hopes to invite the media and representatives of the retail industry. She will also be distributing leaflets of her campaign objectives and giving a presentation. – SG To sign Reem's petition, send an email to [email protected] __
