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Saudi Cleric Pummeled On Twitter For Claiming Driving Damages Women's Ovaries
An anonymous reader writes "CNN reports, "Sheikh Saleh Al-Loheidan's widely derided remarks have gone viral ... 'If a woman drives a car,' Al-Loheidan told Saudi news website sabq.org. 'it could have a negative physiological impact. It would automatically affect a woman's ovaries and that it pushes the pelvis upward.' ... 'We find that for women who continuously drive cars, their children are born with varying degrees of clinical problems.' The controversial comments were widely interpreted throughout Saudi Arabia as an attempt to discourage women in the country from joining a popular online movement urging them to stage a demonstration by driving cars on October 26. 'This is his answer to the campaign,' Saudi women's rights activist Aziza Yousef told CNN. 'He's making a fool of himself. He shouldn't touch this field at all.' Al-Loheidan's words have been ridiculed mercilessly via social media. An Arabic Twitter hashtag called '#WomensDrivingAffectsOvariesAndPelvises' was quickly created to make fun of Al-Loheidan — underscoring just how widely the call for Saudi women to defy the driving ban has resonated thus far. And while numerous conservative voices have supported Al-Loheidan, many Saudis believe this was an extremely clumsy way of trying to counter the popularity of the October 26 campaign.'"
..."In other news, a fatwah has been issued against tweeting."
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
Don't forget the obvious: RIDING in the car, but not driving it, is apparently fine for the ovaries.
Try and wrap your head around that!
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Fear and Freedom don't mix well. Let's all be a little more brave and learn to tell all the batshit religious crazies to fuck off. I don't care if they do raise hell and blow stuff up - eventually there won't be enough left of them to matter.
Free your mind, and your ass will follow.
This. The Middle East has no monopoly on ridiculous ideas about female physiology. Some American politicians, pundits, and religious leaders are downright scary in this regard.
Koans and fables for the software engineer
You might be able to say that women who drive a car get damaged ovaries, but you missing the intermediate step where the woman is dragged from the car and beaten.
Except there's data to support that helicopter example. There's no data to support what this cleric just pulled out of his ass.
And its not dangerous at all for testicles.
Even though they're sat on, bounced around on. etc.
This is the Kardashian model of what makes news worthy. Any idiot saying or doing anything shocking to most of us becomes a media sensation. Just because it was on Twitter doesn't make it relevant to this audience. I'm hoping this trend of dumping crap here skimmed off TMZ headlines doesn't continue.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
My genitals are always HUGE when I'm driving my car.
Love this...the more we talk about Huge genitals the better!
It's like rape. A woman's body knows and just shuts down when she's driving a car.
As crazy as this sounds, it's not too far off from what some ultraconservatives apparently believe.
I read the internet for the articles.
As crazy and wrong as this guy is, his claim isn't completely out of left field.
Wrong. His claim is completely out of left field because he just made this shit up. It's not without precedent, but that is a very different thing, not least because the assertion is that all automobiles will damage all ovaries.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
First sentence says "Saudi Cleric" claims something is so. Why would anyone with any sense read any further? What are you guys, masochists? Do you intentionally look for things to irritate you? Surely you were aware than nothing beneficial or insightful can follow in anything beginning with "Saudi Cleric claims..."
Stop intentionally finding things to piss yourself off. You'll live a healthier, and probably longer, life.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
What an idiot.
Now, now... At least he's not suggesting that humans herded dinosaurs sometime in the last 6,000 years, and is insisting that this fantasy be taught to all the children Texas public schools.
Anyone who turns to a cleric, of any religion, for medical/scientific advice deserves everything that happens to him/her.
Or in other words; when reality and their believes are in conflict, it is reality that must have gotten it wrong. Yes, that sounds about right.
Over the centuries, science has continually reaffirmed that women's health is severely impacted by such stressful activities as reading, writing, voting, driving, owning property, having a job, leaving the kitchen, or thinking.
A fertilized zygote won't turn into a human being "by itself", either - it requires a host to actively sustain it. If your argument is that it's only a human being when it's self-sufficient, then you should be perfectly fine with early abortions. On the other hand, if that is not your criteria, then it is not at all clear what makes fertilized egg any different from unfertilized one - both merely have the potential to grow into a self-sufficient human being, but aren't one.
Of course, in practice, your kind uses various logical fallacies to attempt to justify what is ultimately blind religious faith (ironically, a fairly recent one - Christians of old did not believe that soul was imparted at conception; in fact, there were oft-quoted Biblical passages to support the position that soul only came with the first breath).