See the Katy Perry Pics Too Hot for Saudi Arabia!
June 1st, 2009
By: Ben
In Saudi Arabia, they like their women how they like their coffee: silent and illiterate. And not showing any skin. But they also like the Katy Perry smash hit record One of the Boys. (Girls being boys, girls kissing girls: this sh*t is like “2 Girls 1 Cup” to them. They can’t watch, but they can’t turn away.)
Problem: Katy Perry’s elbows are showing on the album cover and Allah might see. Solution: 10,000 men from the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, armed only with black markers and a love of not seeing women naked. It’s a tough job, being the boob-markerer, but someone must do it. After the jump, pictures of American famous women of pop culture that the Saudi government doesn’t want you to see! And their color-in-the-lines Saudi versions.
From an American blogger in the country (whose blog was quickly, unsurprisingly, censored itself):
Photos of women in books, magazines and product packaging are routinely censored with black markers if any skin is showing, and sometimes pages are just ripped right out. Sometimes the black marker is just scribbled across the woman’s image.
The other night I went to a music shop to purchase a few CDs for my son, Adam. One of the CDs I got is called “One of the Boys”, by a female artist named Katy Perry.
When he opened up the CD, we were both astonished. I hadn’t noticed when I bought it, but the tightly sealed plastic-wrap packaging had been removed and had been replaced with a clear plastic resealable envelope-type wrapper.
Yes, every single unit is lovingly hand-censored by government agents:
So what it all boils down to is that the Saudi government is actually paying religious police members of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice to remove the plastic wrap from these CDs, open up the CD cases, remove the front and back inserts and carefully and painstakingly colour in with a marker any photos baring exposed female flesh that is deemed objectionable.
Hopefully they’ll be able to develop a special marker that can censor the music from sucking as well.
Source: The Observers.
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if you are going to write a story do some investigation first and dont base your reporting on biased material. just because women in saudi arabia cover up doesn’t mean they are illiterate, they are more modest than your typical american woman say paris hilton who is more “civilized” for being a skank.
And for your information Allah is the arabic word for God if you care to know
momo being modest by covering up is one thing but being forced to is something very very different
yeah. and I think he knew allah means god, you fartknocker.
Suzie’s blog is back up–i.e., reachable by those in Saudi Arabia. It always was to those outside the Kingdom.
As Saudi women are now around 60% of university graduates, perhaps they aren’t quite so illiterate. Especially as they tend to be literate in at least two languages. Just sayin’…
la wea fome y superficial!!!!! puranse fribolos de mierda.
to set the record straight re female literacy: saudi arabia’s per capita GDP was ranked the 30th highest in the world in 2007, according to the world bank, which is 35 places ahead of the world average.
saudi arabia’s female literacy rate (70%) was ranked the 87th highest in the world in 2007, according to the cia world factbook, which is 6 places below the world average.
for a country with its level of wealth and development, saudi arabia’s female literacy rate is miserable.
Ah, our friends the Saudis.
To momo: Just because Saudi women are covered up, forbidden to drive, have to sit in the back of the car, can’t leave the house without a male relative, and on and on…doesn’t make them property or pets, does it? Remind the Saudis (and Allah/God) that women are people, too. Yes, even the imported Filipino and Indonesian domestic help.
To Ben: There are any number of ways to bend statistics — Saudi Arabia’s low population with big money from oil exports will lead to high per capita GDP — but that female literacy one actually surprises me. Despite that it’s higher than I thought, it’s still no gem.
Congratulations, Saudi Arabia! We’re waiting for you here in the 21st century!