Pixiliated Woman

It's gotten better over the years, but censorship of women's faces and exposed skin still happens in Saudi Arabia.  It's common to see women's faces pixilated as shown here, or totally blurred out, or blacked out with marking pens, or stickered over - "Creative Censorship."

Our World - Confusing Censorship

I've written about the confusing nature of censorship in this country quite a bit, and it still continues to confound me after all these years.  The problem is in the inconsistency with which the censorship is applied which I believe has to do with individuals in control of this applying their beliefs or interpretations.   All the photos in today's post were taken in a "Female Only" section of a local department store in Jeddah.

Product packaging often shows the product that is inside the package, especially if the product cannot be seen through the packaging. The first photo is censored in such a way so that hardly any of the product inside the package is visible.  All that can be seen is some of the model's skin and a small snippet of the product being sold.  The female model's body is covered randomly with 4 stickers - most of which cover up the product and still leave plenty of her skin showing.  I mistakenly thought the whole point of censorship was to cover up the woman's skin which would be considered forbidden to see in Islam...

This second photo has just on sticker that covers up a small keyhole area where cleavage might possibly have been visible, but the model's thighs, shoulders, and arms are left exposed.  At least most of the product is viewable so the customer has an idea of what she is buying.

This 3rd photo pretty much totally covers up the product inside the package, while leaving what appears to be the almost nude model's body totally exposed.  The censorship on this one is particularly puzzling to me - I don't understand why the censor doesn't try to cover her skin instead of the product itself.

This shows the same product packaging as the first photo but with the stickers completely covering up the product inside.  But instead on this one, we can see that the model is wearing a necklace which wasn't visible in the first photo, and which ironically is not being sold. The below photo is a headless mannequin sporting a sexy lingerie item - and this all apparently is totally okay here...
Saudi Arabia - Land of Contrasts and Contradictions!

Be sure to visit OUR WORLD TUESDAY, where family-friendly bloggers share a unique glimpse into what life is like all around our ever-amazing planet.  

Our World: Saudi Arabia Censorship on TV

I watched the movie "Music and Lyrics" recently here in Saudi Arabia on the MBC channels (Middle East Broadcasting Center).  Music and Lyrics is a romantic comedy that stars Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant.  It was very distracting watching this movie because there was so much censorship - all the female characters' bare arms, shoulders, and upper chests were blurred out in all of the scenes.  This type of censorship is also done on Saudia Airlines flights on all their in-flight entertainment.

So, why is Hugh Grant's chest area blurred out, you might ask?  This actually shows the lengths to which censorship goes here in Saudi Arabia.  Hugh was wearing a necklace of a cross - so, seeing as how it is a symbol of Christianity, it was blurred out in all of the scenes he was wearing it in the movie as well.  I've even seen children's books with Porky Pig blacked out with marker - because pork is forbidden here in the Kingdom.  I don't really understand why blacking out the mere image of a cartoon pig is seen as a threat to the people these censors are supposedly protecting from things that are haram (forbidden).  It's really taken to quite an extreme here.

This is actress Haley Bennett all blurred out in the movie "Music and Lyrics" because her skin was exposed contrary to Islamic standards.  My problem with all of this censorship is the inconsistency to which these standards are applied.  I'm watching another movie right now called "Divergent" on MBC2, and in it actress Shailene Woodley has exposed arms and chest throughout the movie, yet there is no blurring out at all in this movie.  The inconsistency with this censorship here drives me nuts...




Be sure to visit OUR WORLD TUESDAY, where family-friendly bloggers share a unique glimpse into what life is like all around our ever-amazing planet.

Saudi Faceless Women

I still don't understand the inconsistency with which this type of censorship is applied here in Saudi Arabia. It's so random that I feel it must be attributed to each individual company's policies and not necessarily a government agency.  The faceless women in advertisements sometimes even includes children's faces and men's faces as well, but most often it's only applied to women. The mannequins here in Saudi Arabia, however, are all consistently headless. There are no statues of entire people or living things (body parts are allowed though) and I believe the reason for this is religious, regarding worship of idols being prohibited.  

Our World: Saudi Arabia Censorship

Another example of censorship in Saudi Arabia - In a mall in Jeddah, this huge advertisement shows the woman's face on the left is blurred out while the man's and children's faces are not.  *sigh*

  


Be sure to visit OUR WORLD TUESDAY, where family-friendly bloggers share a unique glimpse into what life is like all around our ever-amazing planet.

Censorship in Saudi Arabia: Taylor Swift

Censorship in Saudi Arabia is often accomplished by someone taking a marking pen to women's skin if the person doing the censoring thinks too much of it is showing.  Taylor Swift's bright yellow strapless dress looks rather awkward with the skin of her arms, legs, and shoulders marked out in blue marker. Sometimes skin is marked out with scribbles, and times like these, great care is taken to color within the lines.

Below is what the CD sold in the rest of the world looks like...

Censorship Confusion

This is a really huge sign inside a mall in Jeddah.  I just don't understand why whoever put this sign up felt that the two girls' faces on the left needed to be blurred out, while the girl on the right wasn't.  It's all so confusing to me...