A Saudi historian has defended Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers by controversially claiming that women who choose to drive "don't care if they are raped on the roadside."
Saleh Al-Saadoon attempted to justify his country's prohibition against female drivers by citing U.S. women as being nonchalant about rape, further stating that sexual violence "is no big deal to them," the Jewish Press reported.
If a car breaks down in Western countries, women stand a chance of getting raped on the side of the road. But Saudi Arabia eliminates that risk by not allowing women to drive in the first place, Al-Saadoon said during a TV interview in January, according to a translation posted online by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
"Women used to ride camels, so one might ask what prevents them from riding cars," he pondered. "In Saudi Arabia, we have special circumstances. If a woman drives from one city to another and her car breaks down, what becomes of her?" Al-Saadoon said on Saudi Rotana Khalijiyya TV.
When the interviewer pointed out that women are allowed to drive in America and Europe, Al-Saadoon replied, "They don't care if they are raped at the roadside, but we do."
"Hold on. Who told you they don't care about getting raped on the roadside?" asked the host, a woman who is not named in the transcript, The Huffington Post reported.
"It's no big deal for them beyond the damage to their morale. In our case, however, the problem is of a social and religious nature," he replied, additionally dismissing the contradictory remarks of two other guests on the show by claiming that they were out of touch.
"They should listen to me and get used to what society thinks," Al-Saadoon said of the other guests.
Visibly shocked by Al-Saadoon's focus on the shame of being raped instead of the emotional damage caused to the woman, the host stressed that a "rape is a morale blow to a woman" and that it "goes deeper than the social damage."
"Perhaps morale is part of the problem, but it is not the problem itself. There is also a religious aspect," he replied.
Since the rape argument didn't seem to be convincing anyone, Al-Saadoon tried another approach.
"Saudi women are driven around by their husbands, sons and brothers," Al-Saadoon noted. "Everybody is in their service. They are like queens. A queen without a chauffeur has the honor of being driven around by her husband, brother, son and nephews. They are all at the ready when she gestures with her hand."
"You are afraid that a woman might be raped at the roadside by soldiers, but you are not afraid that she might be raped by her chauffeur," the interviewer asked Al-Saadoon.
"Of course I am," he answered. "There is a solution, but the government officials and the clerics refuse to hear of it. The solution is to bring in foreign female chauffeurs to drive our wives."
At this point, the host was forced to place her hand over her mouth to contain her laughter.
"Female foreign chauffeurs?" she said. "Seriously?"
"Why not?" Al-Saadoon wondered. "Are you with me on this? There might be some considerable opposition to this, but..."
Meanwhile last year, two women who defied the ban on driving, Loujain al-Hathloul and Maysa al-Amoudi, are being tried in a court that handles terror cases, according to Raw Story.
If Saudi women are caught driving in the country, they can face serious penalties, including lashing.
