Arabian “Sex” Nights in the Gulf States

Until recent years, a special religious force, known with a long phrase entitled “The Authority to Call for Good Deeds, and Ask for not Doing Sins,” used to be seen in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s streets chasing women not wearing veils and punishing men who refused to close their shops to enroll themselves in mosques during one of the five prayer times. For a hundred years, this authority was busy chasing citizens and visitors whom they thought were being unfaithful to Islam. And since the establishment of the kingdom, controlling the people could be done at a political level. Yet, did all the precautions prevent people from committing “sins”? The answer, of course, was “No”!

Alcoholic beverages are permitted in some form or another in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and UAE while they are forbidden in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. All of the Arabian Gulf States prohibit prostitution and sex clubs. However, as all press media tend to reveal, illegal sexual behavior is thriving. Also, as sex crimes continue to be discovered, it only goes to show that under the veil of such a faithful life runs the river of history’s oldest industry.

The reasons for this are easy to find. First, the illegal is always more attractive. Even couples that are already married are looking for flats to experience a more sexual relationship beyond their “normal” married sex life. The kingdom of Arabia, being a melting pot of 200 nationalities living in close proximity, suggests how nationals would desire to explore their sexuality with those of differing backgrounds. Moreover, after a long day of hard work, people are eager to satisfy their sexual needs and typically resort to finding temporary partners within the sex industry.

Reports such as the one below are common for newspaper readers in this region: “There is also another side to Dubai’s booming market. Most large hotels are little more than dens of prostitution. Hotels are permitted to issue guest permits to bring people from outside. In order to attract customers, many hotels bring girls from Central Asia, Russia, Romania, and Western Europe. These girls are provided free accommodation in the hotel for three months while they are expected to service hotel guests. Each hotel has a club where girls enter for free while men must pay 100 dirhams. Alcohol is available and consumed in large quantities. Customers come to these clubs to pick up foreign girls” (Yusuf Abdullah, in Crescent iCIT).

In fact, the Gulf States do not need a five-star hotel to sustain its prostitution network. In Kuwait, building security guards who hold the keys to empty flats (to show home-seekers when they come searching) are usually involved in the illegal business of renting those empty rooms on a nightly-basis to Arabs who have come with their “girls”. Some guards even find women for those who would pay for sex. Women are frequently the victims at the end of these transactions because of the cheap salaries they receive for their work. At the end of the day, they are exploited and can only send a meager amount of money home to support their families.

Heavy restrictions have not stopped the rise of sexual crimes such as prostitution and illegal sex relationships within families. One such incident occurred with a father and his own daughter as published in Al-Rai newspaper, Kuwait, on January 2017.

A common concept throughout this article is poor women vulnerable to men who are stronger and wealthier. The result: an illegal sexual relationship that is left unpunished.

Aside from this common issue, many European women living in the Gulf worry about Arab citizens’ perception of them. While most of the European women come to find work and decent partners and friends, the notion of a pure friendship between men and women is not easily accepted in this area. Arab men tend to think these women are “easy,” having come to the Gulf with secret intentions and free relationships.

To conclude, the societies of the Arabian Gulf States suffer from a bipolar agenda; on the one hand, they live with their families pretending they are virtuous and faithful, but on the other hand, they experience a wild life in destinations where sex comes cheap. Sometimes, when they cannot travel to prostitution capitals, they create their own prostitution den near their families. It is known that some housekeepers have committed suicide to avoid being forced to pleasure their masters in the home.