November 13, 2006

Saudi Men Spreading AIDS

In a small town outside of Aqaba, Jordan, a group of Beduin women serve as prostitutes for the many businessmen and others visiting Aqaba for conferences and other gatherings.

Among those men there are a large number of Saudi Men (as well as men from the rest of the Gulf Region and world), who frequent these Beduin women. Married men, often with more than one wife.

I met up with a woman working for a humanitarian organisation in Sweden, as she had recently come back from that town outside Aqaba. She compared the state of it to the sights of poverty she had seen in India. She continued telling me about the research with regards to AIDS she had been made privy to.

Cases of AIDS had been found among those Beduin women. When one of the women was asked to estimate how many men she had slept with in her "career" as a prostitute, she rounded it up to a disturbing figure of 700 men. Unprotected sex.

Right now, there are most probably women and children in Saudi Arabia who are infected with AIDS because of their hubands and fathers and they don't even know it.

19 comments:

* said...

Thats sad, more than disturbing. All these men will now go back and infect their spouses and futher down the line.

(Small note for ClayF : YOU HEARD THAT! Mr.Decadence and Debauchery.)

Destitute Rebel said...

SS these are facts that usually do not see the light of the day, hidden from the public, hidden from the media to protect these wealthy "respectable" men. The situation is much worse then this and not just in Aqaba but in a lot of other places. Education for the women is necessary, so is awareness and education for the idiots going about having unprotected sex with the women infecting them and going back infecting their wives and mistresses. Setting of a chain reaction that will show its ugly face in a few years time.

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Exactly kaya. The thought of it is just, it makes ones blood boil. I mean if you are going to sleep around and cheat, atleast have the deceny to wear a condom.

I am waiting for the day there is a sudden "outbreak" of it in the Gulf region. The middle-east is the fastest growing region when it comes to AIDS.

clayfuture said...

That's very disturbing! How do you tell these guys from fudging around and be more responsible?!!

@kaya.. I was only kidding about the "decadence and debauchery"! I don't go out EVERY night! ... kidding again! :D

Anonymous said...

SAD

what's happening in Muslim world :(
dear friends, an evil act/practice remains haram even if its done with condom or even in love, there cant be any decency in eating shit

May God help us!

Unknown said...

SS: Sad, isn't it what money can / can't buy? Jordan is one country I love for I used to live & work in Amman a lifetime ago.

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Clayfuture, in my opinion there has to be a change in how men in those areas view women and marriage.

Saudi is the only sunni country that has allowed "temporary marriage". It is a practice that was disengaged by the Prophet in his time, and now they have made it active again. There are men today with women all over the world in different countries, under this kind of contract. It is there to still the conscience of men who just dont want to keep it in the pants.

Awos, I know what you mean. If only money could by a heart, some sense and a conscience.

There can be nothing but a total disrespect for the bodies, hearts and souls of women that would inspire a man to act in such a way.

Anonymous said...

Sad. Sad. Sad.

Sex and Dubai said...

If only people werent so ignorant about it.

Absitence clearly isn't practiced in the Middle East despite religious edicts against adultery and fornication - truly the VERY least thing that can be done is to use a condom.

The truth is the women are as much at fault as the men are because, as women it is our duty to protect our bodies.

DON'T BE A LOVER WITHOUT A SAFETY COVER!!

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

knicq good to have you here, sad is the word of the moment.

Sex and Dubai (S&D) welcome!

Well I will have to disagree on the statement that women are as much to blame. Question is, how much do poor uneducated beduin women in jordan know about AIDS?

And even so, where to get condoms or even be aware that there is a risk at getting AIDS even from a "Muslim saudi man."

And what if the man says, no condom or else I won't pay you.

I mean this issue has many many layers and colours to it, it is not as clean cut as it is when we talk about women with money, awareness, education and freedom of choice.

And I agree, the least they can do is to wear a condom.

Sex and Dubai said...

SS: Your points are well noted and its great to be able to have a healthy (no pun intended) discussion on this topic.

We agree - we don't expect illiterate bedouin women to be aware of fatal STD's.

As for sleeping with "Muslim" Saudi men...I think it is safe to say that they aren't exactly practicing Islam when they are screwing multiple women.

Obviously at the end of the day it boils down to education and information that needs to be passed on to these women so they can make choices for themselves.

As for the men...well how much can we expect from Pigs?

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

:) my pleasure to have you here.

Being a muslim man these days is no guarantee for anything but I still think many women who are less informed, such as the women in question, would most probably have the misconception that it is "safe" to sleep with a muslim man from saudi. I hope that more and more women out there get involved where they live in spreading information about AIDS to those affected by it. Jordanian women, wake up!

Then again, imagine the social stigma placed on women who choose to do something constructive with their time, like advocating the use of condoms to these beduin women. She might as well join them, because that is what she will be labeled as herself.

Quelle tragedie!

Noman said...

I am sorry but I do not see any link/media report behind your entry. Pls. provide us such link when you are posting material of controversy.

It's nothing personal. Just a buisness.

* said...

I want to say something here. Its a bit strong, and I would not want to be in this position Heaven forbid.
As a woman I may choose whom I sleep with, because if I choose not to sleep with someone the most will happen is that i will die of hunger. As a mother I may not care what I have to do to feed my child.
Thats the woman's view. But even then, there is no justification for prostitutes to have babies.The responsibilty of a government, hospitals is to send welfare workers to such places to distribute birth control and also protection. Prostitution remains one of the oldest professions in the world, and ignorant or not, bedouin or not , these women have plenty of knowledge regarding many things.
I worked for an NGO for 3 years where I was required to go into the innermost villages to teach birth control to the women. I know what I faced and how difficult it was. Neverthles, in such a situation, an NGO needs to intervene. feeding starving children is not the only malady in this world.

Anonymous said...

awesome... yeah sold... kaya very well said...

its a very sensitive issue and must be a difficult challenge for the workers dealing with it. though I feel no softness for the people involved in prostitution for any reason and I also feel sorry for their customers as they work hard in earning fire for their eternal lives but I must say that these workers are doing great job even to educate prostitutes. These efforts shouldnt result in stigma as they are actually helping societies, making efforts to minimize the spread of diseases and trying to save innocent partners and families of wrong doers.

bytheway there cant be any justification to join a group of wrong doers, as I wrote earlier its simply shit and one can never start eating it even if the whole world would think as if you do, unless that person starts liking it! (perhaps with protections or what you call decency :P)

Samawel said...

That, unfortunately, is very true. The problem is that there isn't enough awareness about safe sex in the middle east, it's just a really dangerous taboo.

I've tried my luck with spreading the safe sex message. Told to shut up a lot of times. But people should begin to understand this issue.

Arab Lady said...

Ya allah!
i'm speachless :( wut a sad situation...i feel sorry for the wives who have no clue wut their husbands do during the so called “business trips” !!

secretdubai said...

I have met a Saudi woman whose Saudi husband contracted HIV (now developed to full-blown AIDS, from what I recall) by sleeping with prostitutes.

Luckily, her western upbringing not only helped her recognise the signs (a strange flu that wouldn't clear), but also gave her the balls - so to speak - to insist on tests with reluctant doctors, and so on.

Even more luckily she and her child did not contract it, and she was later divorced from her husband.

I just wonder how many Saudi women would have the knowledge to be suspicious, let alone the influence with their husbands to get them to have the test. Ignorance and powerlessness are killing them and their children, just like poor women in Africa and elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

I can not believe what is said. Wealthy Saudi men , as described, will not go fucking with so called Bedouin women at Aqaba, they have enough of Bedouin women at home.
This is only to make Aqaba look bad.
Anyway , my opinion as whoever comet adultery deserve what he gets being AIDS or any other STD.