Funny, She Doesn't Look Jewish
Steven Menashi :: 9/10/2003

The Saudi Information Agency is reporting that "The Saudi government has announced that Barbie dolls are Jewish tools promoting the lewd behavior of what it calls the perverted Western world, according to a government poster distributed to Saudi schools, mosques and hospitals." This is actually not a new story, since Barbie has been featured in the "Exhibit of Violations" at the Saudi "Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices" website since it was launched in May.

The whole business is comedy, of course, not least because the Saudis find Barbie so menacing: "The enemies of Islam want to invade us with all possible means, and therefore they have circulated among us this doll, which spreads deterioration of values and moral degeneracy among our girls." It sounds like a Saturday Night Live sketch. A representative of the Saudi Agency in Medina has even told the Associated Press "that Barbie was modeled after a real-life Jewish woman." A real-life Jewish woman! Saudi Arabia has been sure to keep those out, and they certainly don't want to import fake ones. Apparently, though, the Saudi religious police face a thriving black-market trade in Barbie dolls, which is an encouraging sign.

The fact that Saudi Arabia appears so bizzare and ridiculous ("We must beware. The Prophet Muhammad said, 'Any woman who wears perfume and passes by people so they can smell it is a whore'") makes one lose sight of the fact that this is rank religious bigotry on the part of the Saudi government, the official postion of which is that Jews are perverted, decadent, and otherwise culturally poisonous. The White House's National Security Strategy lists "religious and ethnic tolerance" (not to mention "respect for women") among the "nonnegotiable demands of human dignity" that ostensibly guide U.S. decisions about international cooperation, foreign assistance, and the allocation of resources. Of course, there are other serious problems with Saudi Arabia, but teaching children that Jews are treacherous and degenerate should probably count as one of those serious problems as well. The least we could do is provide some Barbie dolls to the poor Saudi girls shelling out $27 a pop on the black market.

What's also interesting about the Saudis' anti-Barbie poster is its identification of "Jewish" with "Western." Anyone who thinks that Arab anti-Semitism has nothing to do with hostility to the West, or that hatred of America prevails only because of American support for Israel, just isn't paying attention to the way "Jews" and "the West" are often seen as two sides of the same coin.

I also wish World Wide Barbie.com would add an Arabic-language section. Apparently, she's better at promoting freedom in Saudi Arabia than any politician we have.