Re:Charlie Hebdo: first cover since terror attack depicts pr...
by PublicEnemy111 on Tuesday January 13, 2015 @04:25PM
(#8882705)
Men certainly dominated the govt and positions in high society; however, this was really where the partiarchal dominance ends. The mother of the friends I stayed with in Aleppo actually played for Syria's national basketball team. The woman I stayed with in Damascus was widowed yet she was able to continue with her life as her husbands brother took great care of her.
I must admit that all of the families I stayed with were Catholic, but there was no difference in these families than the average American family in terms of respect between husband and wife.
I was trying to dispel the image that the culture of Saudi Arabia represents the entire middle east.
I was in Syria in 2010, also before the war. I travelled around for a fortnight.
I completely disagree. It was an almost entirely patriarchal society. I can't even begin to comprehend how you came to any other conclusion. The dominance of men in positions of authority and in the social life of all the cities I visited, including Damascus and Aleppo, was overwhelming and blindingly obvious.
For example, how many women did you see in cafes without male escorts? How many officials did you interact with who were female? How many times did you see women shopping alone in Souks? I think my answer to that is "pretty much zero".
Damascus was definitely much more liberal than other places. I don't recall the same being true of Aleppo.
I agree, however, that the poverty wasn't too bad, compared to other countries.
Popular support for Al-Assad was complicated. It's hard to assess people's true feelings about a situation when they live partly in fear of the consequences of their criticism.