unfortunate traditions

Gerladine Brooks’ Prologue to Nine Parts of Desire at first glance seems to be a personal story of herself being rejected from staying overnight in a hotel in the city of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. After reading further, you soon realized that not being allowed to stay in a hotel was the least of problems. Brooks’ uses her experience to further describe the life of women in the Middle East. Brooks describes how women are looked upon as being “dangerous” and how staying alone in a hotel room for a few hours can result in the presence of an armed guard at the entrance of the elevator.

“They must think I’m dangerous,” I muttered. The bellman didn’t smile. “The think all women are dangerous,” he replied, dropping my bag just inside the door and retreating under the guard’s watchful eye.” (pg. 2)

This idea to me is puzzling since women are essentially oppressed by the men. A woman cannot walk alone unless she is a prostitute, has to be fully dressed, and can be just another of her husbands many items. Where is the “dangerousness” in that? After reading about Brooks personal story, I felt like I had a better understanding of the traditions surrounding the lifestyle of someone living in the Middle East. If the U.S. and Saudi Arabia changed lifestyles for one day, I can guarantee chaos. No one likes change, but in the U.S. change has proven, in the subject of more equality for women, that change has benefited our way of life. On the other hand, what if the traditions did change in Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia maybe more good things could come out of it that bad. However tradition is tradition and by what it seems, it doesn’t look like anything is going to change for women’s rights soon.
*ml