PICK THE 5 MOST DISTURBING IDEAS

While I was working a couple of days ago, I heard a catchy song coming out from my colleague’s office. He was listening at high volume to Joumhoureyet Alby (The Republic of My heart) by Moahmed Eskandar, a lebanese singer. Even though I did not understand a word, I couldn’t help “mmming” it all day long in my head.

Then I saw the video and I was truly gobsmacked. At first, I thought it was a parody, because it looked surreal to me. Then I read that “feminists” protested in Lebanon, where some TV programs hosted debates on “sexist” songs; in Syria women’s rights defenders asked radios not to air it at all.

The thing is that such captivating song has a vast reach…for instance a girl working with YMCA in Bethlem told me: “We use this song to make disabled children and adolescents vent out: a social worker whispered to me that it is very bad and she doesn’t like it but the kids enjoy dancing it so they still use it”.  Thus the message goes around and reach many young people, wisely disguised in a nice slick video. Some of them, like this guy, even praise Mr. Eskender. Yes, indeed, it is one of those catchy rythm that get stuck in you head.

But what is this song about? Here some comments and translations. Another good english explanation I found comes from Blue Buttons:

The song starts off with the graduated girl telling her dad that she wants to work. Eskandar, playing the role of the dad, bluntly states that “we have no girls here that work with their degrees, our girl is pampered and everything she wants is at her service.” Now what does that even mean? Assuming that all families have the luxury to “pamper” their girls, is that what all girls are after? Not only it is demeaning to women’s ambitions and goals in life, it also encourages them to being a non-productive part of the society. How on earth would the Arab world move forward while half of its population is being “pampered” at home?

It seems that the song aims at putting women in their “place”, to Eskandar this place is the kitchen. We see the girl giving the man, who seems to be her fiancé, a look asking him to support her decision, but he starts shaking his head and waving his hands saying “you get married and that’s it”. Now that’s the role women are supposed to fulfill according to the song. It simply undermines women’s rights and intelligence.

Then the dad tells his daughter to hypothetically assume that he would allow her to work, what would he do with her with her beauty!? In the video clip we see the girl dressed in a very revealing dress that her boss couldn’t help but sexually harass her. The problem here is that the dad is going to have to intervene and destroy the office. “Take the idea of working out of your mind, why to cause yourself problems?” Assuming that a working woman would wear something like that to her work place, how is she to blame if one man is a pervert. The song is basically saying that all men are pigs and it blames women for that.

According to the song, another reason why women should stay in their kitchens is the kids. We see in the clip the woman going to work leaving her little son with the Asian maid that doesn’t pay any attention to the crying baby. Well, first of all, there’s a lot of working women I know and none of them leave their kids with the maid. Second of all, the image that Asian workers are portrayed in the video clip is extremely racist. Third of all, if a mother is working it doesn’t mean that she is going to neglect her kids or not care for them. Sure, a lot of women decide to stay at home when they become mothers, but that is their choice and a second class singer shouldn’t have a say in that.

In my opinion, the most insulting part of the song is when the father goes like “what is this job that’s going to separate us, who cares about money, I would burn them for your eyes”. It’s a bad stereotype that shows women would smile like dolls and do what you ask for if you buy them fancy things. Apparently it hasn’t crossed Eskandar’s mind that women need to work to fulfill their dreams and ambitions, not just to earn some money. Furthermore, it would be great if all fathers can afford saying that and actually buying their girls convertibles and give them golden credit cards, but that’s just not true.

What’s dangerous about this kind of messages that come in the form of catchy songs is that the words are easily implanted in the minds of kids and youth. How many of us sang and danced along such songs? Such messages lead to backward thinking thus hindering the Arab world from acknowledging women as a productive part of the society and becoming more of a civilized culture. I think there should be more special organizations to spread awareness about this kind of popular media and advertisement.