I have just finished re-reading a book by Jean Sassoon called "Princess". Hmms, it got me thinking about monogamy and fairness among the two genders. In Saudi Arabia, females are not even the least bit respected. They are ordered to die by their own families if they made a slightest mistake. They can't drive, have to put on their veils if there are men around, they treat their brothers, fathers and husbands as gods. They do everything as told. This shocks me.

In this particular era, the year 2008, where Britney Spears flashed the world her body parts, , yet there are still women being circumsized before they get married. This does not only happen in Saudi Arabia but also India.

There are quite a few examples of how the female gender is "bullied" by the male in the book. For example, there is this story about a Filipino maid. She went to work in Saudi Arabia as a maid, what she didn't know was that she was expected to provide sexual services to her "master" and "his son". She tried to escape but is always caught. After complaining to her embassy, nothing was done because her country can't afford to lodge a formal complaint against Saudi Arabia. Philipines need their people to work overseas and send money home. So , she had to suffer until her contract was up.

Here's another.

When the author was about 13 years old, she went out on a trip with her brother and sisters. They went to Cairo, Egypt. One day, she was walking down the stairs and heard lots of screaming from her brother's room. She and her sister opened the door and saw him raping a young girl. There was blood everywhere and her brother and his friend was laughing. This is a true story of a mother who sold her daughters to strangers for money in exchange for their virginities being lost. The author threatened to tell their father about her brother and guess what? The brother showed her a namecard which her father passed them for this particular service.

I can only say i'm deeply mortified by this reality of life. Of how crazy the world is out there and how i'm lucky to be born in Singapore where men and women are equal.