No Shirt, No Shoes? No Service.

Oops. Wait. Make that "No dress? No service."

"You're NOT wearing that, are you?"

There is a new "trend," here. "The Bermuda Youth (dressed in over-the-knee-shorts) is but a picture symbolized by the current generation of youth who made it an official dress they use while roaming trade malls and public parks." Hmm. I have not seen any of youth at any of the "trade malls" in the Eastern Province. I saw quite a few young men at the mall the other day and I would say only a few were not dressed in traditional clothing - most had their thobe and ghutra on - a few had jeans on. Did not see one pair of Bermuda shorts, though. Even on our compound I see very few local young men, or boys, wearing shorts. Guess it is a problem somewhere over here - I just haven't seen it.

According to the article, "They also wear this dress when following up their paper works at the government departments or traveling. An official at the Saudi Arabian Airlines once prevented a young man dressed in Bermuda to board his Riyadh-bound plane on the grounds he was not properly dressed. Some youths dressed in Bermudas were prevented from entering hospitals even during time of emergency." Because of "this fast spreading fashion among young men, calls have been made to draft a new law" which will dictate what you can and can't wear. As if this country doesn't have enough to be concerned about.

It is like a law in one State [which one?] that says your pants must cover your underwear in response to young men trying to emulate thugs by wearing their pants much farther down on their body than they were intended to be worn. Who cares if those young men want to look ridiculous - the ones wearing their pants down around their thighs instead of around their waist. No matter. Now, it is a problem, here, too.

A teacher at the Scholarly Institute for Islamic Studies in Jeddah "described the tight trousers and sleeveless open shirts as 'contrary to men's ethics.'" Huh? And, someone tell me what a "sleeveless open shirt" is. I know I haven't seen one of those, here. "Sleeveless open shirt." The teacher, Sheikh Saleh Al-Shamrani, says "Very often we are confused between men and women because of the dress they wear." [Emphasis, mine.] Excuse me? "He called for punishing such kind of men because they drifted away from the natural instinct."

A local writer, Maram Makkawi, "supports the drafting of a law to set measures for the socially acceptable dress." Hey. I'm wearing a black bag over my clothes when I leave the compound. That is as far as I am willing to go. Ms. Makkawi "objected to the shirts carrying xesually explicit language..." and says, something really confusing about harassment: "The 'low waist' worn by men would imply xesual harassment to the other xes. 'Rather they could imply harassment by men to men which is easier in our society.'" I've read that several times now, and I have no idea what she is saying. Something about men harassing men is "easy?" Is she implying that certain xesual behavior is acceptable?