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posted by martyb on Sunday November 20 2016, @05:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-blame-the-messenger-—-charge-them dept.

TeleSUR reports:

A U.K.-based human rights organization has urged Britons living in the United Arab Emirates to not report incidents of rape or sexual assaults following the case of a British woman who was allegedly gang raped in Dubai and after reporting it was arrested and charged with "extramarital sex" charges.

[...] The organization Detained in Dubai, which provides legal assistance to foreign people arrested in the UAE regardless of their citizenship and financial status, has already launched a petition at Change.org, urging authorities to take action on the matter.

[...] Radha Stirling, a U.S. citizen founder of the charity, said to The Independent that following the recent case – as well as a number of other shocking incidents in recent years where rape victims have been detained in the UAE – she advises British tourists not to report crime.

Human rights organizations have asked the UAE monarchies to match their country's great economic growth and tourism potential with changes to its legal system to improve and develop the legal rights and process.

From guide2dubai.com:

In 2013, the total population of UAE was recorded to be 9.2 million. Out of the 9.2 million, the expatriates contributed to around 7.8 million with the Emirati Nationals holding a population share of 1.4 million. [...] South Asian countries alone contributes to around 58% of the total population of UAE. The western population shares to around 8% of the overall population of the country.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday November 20 2016, @08:43PM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday November 20 2016, @08:43PM (#430064) Journal

    Is this like saying that we have to give the bible credit for introducing slavery lite? Come on now.

    Huh?

    I don't know what you're getting at, but all I'm saying is that women had precious little rights under biblical law. Yes, both Judaism and Christianity have evolved a LOT since then. But a lot of people like to "project" modern ideas back onto biblical texts. In most ancient societies, women were basically treated as property, or at best with the rights equivalent to minor children. In fact, that's somewhat true up to the 19th century in Western society, when coverture [wikipedia.org] laws were finally starting to be overturned and women started to be given equal legal standing. This isn't blaming anything on the Bible or any other religious text, just noting that societal principles were vastly different back then.

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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday November 20 2016, @09:12PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 20 2016, @09:12PM (#430086) Journal

    You are looking at a small selection of primitive cultures. The relative rights of men and women even varied a lot within the middle east, much less if you go outside that area. Equality (well, of a separate but equal kind) wasn't rare, and there were even cultures where the women were dominant, although these seem to be largely (though not entirely) pre-agricultural. Men seem to have become culturally dominant on a wide scale only when armies became economically feasible.

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    • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday November 20 2016, @10:02PM

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday November 20 2016, @10:02PM (#430130) Journal

      The relative rights of men and women even varied a lot within the middle east, much less if you go outside that area. Equality (well, of a separate but equal kind) wasn't rare, and there were even cultures where the women were dominant, although these seem to be largely (though not entirely) pre-agricultural.

      I merely said "most" ancient societies treated women as inferior, not that there weren't significant variations from place to place or over time. Women in Islamic areas, for example, often enjoyed much greater rights during medieval times than they did in "Western" (European) areas under Christian rule. (And fewer rights than they tend to enjoy in many modern Islamic states.)

      I also am familiar with the theories of "matriarchal prehistory" that emerged in the 19th century and enjoyed a popularity in the late 20th century. At least as I understand it, while there is some speculation of greater matriarchal societies in neolithic and pre-agricultural cultures, there seems to be little direct evidence of large numbers of historical matriarchal societies (and even debate among anthropologists over whether a truly matriarchal culture has existed; not just a matrilineal or matrifocal one). Regardless, I guess my previous post was geared toward societies with advanced legal codes, which tend to come about with the rise of agriculture anyway.

      But if you have a significant source you can share about matriarchal or gender egalitarian ancient societies, I'm legitimately curious to know more.

      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday November 21 2016, @06:19PM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 21 2016, @06:19PM (#430720) Journal

        I'm not talking about matriarchal. I'm not sure that this has ever been demonstrated anywhere at any time. Matrilineal is a different matter..that HAS been demonstrated. And when I said "equality of a separate but equal nature" what I meant was that in some roles men were dominant and in other role women were dominant. This establishes an interdependence such that there MUST be agreement between the two or you don't do well at all. Women were always disadvantaged due to their greater investment in and attachment to children, but an outcast man was quite likely to die...and men were more likely to be outcast. And in matrilineal societies many of the male roles were filled by the woman's brother. This provides some protection against abuse, and there was much less pair-bonding between lovers. The man invested less in the children that he fathered, so fidelity was less important.

        It's always a matter of power and economics, but the culture has a lot to say about how those manifest, and can act as a balance wheel...or the opposite.

        N.B.: Matrilineal societies have their problems, e.g. what if a woman doesn't HAVE a brother, but they all have ways of dealing with that situation, usually better than "If she's got no brother then she's been cursed by the gods.". I believe in some she becomes the official sister of the chief...but I'm really not sure what that means.

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      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday November 21 2016, @10:27PM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday November 21 2016, @10:27PM (#430878) Homepage
        > But if you have a significant source you can share about matriarchal or gender egalitarian ancient societies, I'm legitimately curious to know more.

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