DH thinks we're going to get arrested in Dubai

[willyougobacktobed]

Going to Dubai next week for Easter on a mini break with DH. As a tactile couple who enjoys a couple of drinks with dinner he's getting really anxious that we're going to get arrested if we a) unthinkingly give each other a peck on the cheek or b) share a bottle of wine and have a giggle.

He has googled their strict laws and legal systems LOTS.

I think he's BU, his worries and mithering are making me not look as forward to a holiday I've saved hard for as much as I otherwise would.

Are we going to get arrested?!

I've been there for a couple of business trips. I wouldn't go back for pleasure as it's not my kind of place. It waws obviously not as restricted in terms of my rights to show my hair as when I had work trips to Iran but still pretty awful on all kinds of measures.

Even just on the plane as we touched down servants were calling their bosses kowtowing to sir in a way we got away from in the UK in Victorian Britain. Detained in Dubai is a pretty good source of information www.detainedindubai.org/.

Also giving up Islam (apostacy) is a capital offence (death penalty) .
there. It is that combination of appalling human rights, supposed religion and yet such materlialistic "bling" never mind the temperature of the place and all that sand and of course the lack of rights for women that are pretty hard to stomach.

(apostasy)

I've been twice. Dubai is more relaxed than most of the UAE. So go, have your drinks in a hotel, have fun. Maybe don't fall asleep, be drunk and disorderly or get too close in a taxi... but overall you won't get arrested.

We accidentally held hands (without thinking) in the mall of the emirates. We got dirty looks... then we realized. That was the extent of it.

I'm surprised you have picked Dubai? If this is your thinking.

@clairemcnam

Yes but Britain is a Christian state. The country’s official religion is Christianity.

Christianity makes no clothing requirements on women.

The official religion of Dubai, does.

@LimeKiwi Jesus i had more than a giggle with DH & DS whilst we were there, we had a bloody hoot! Since when does holidaying in Dubai equal no fun to be allowed?
I think majority of posters haven't even been there therefore shouldn't really comment.

Christ! My dd1 has just got back from a week of PARTYING there. There is a huge party scene. Think girls in bikinis, pool side bar, DJ lots of very good looking peoples dancing having a great time.

Just don’t act like a pair of knobbers!

I am perfectly willing to believe that there are freedoms that women experience in Dubai that women do not experience in the UK. Its certainly possible.

Please tell me what freedoms you experience as a women in Dubai that you wouldn't in the UK heidi?

I will start you off with what I believe is a few relevant examples of freedoms women have in the UK that I don't believe they have in Dubai (though please feel free to correct me!)

In the UK a woman is free to kiss her girlfriend in public.
In the UK a woman is free to protest changes in the law by stripping naked in the streets of the capital
In the UK a woman is free to report rape by a stranger and not get arrested for it.

(Good list although I am not sure you can always strip naked. You can swim naked in rivers but if you take off your clothes in a fashion that might cause a breach of the peace in England you can be arrested).

I suppose in Dubai some richer women of the host country may be more likely to be free not to work (if that is a freedom at all).

@LimeKiwi Jesus i had more than a giggle with DH & DS whilst we were there, we had a bloody hoot! Since when does holidaying in Dubai equal no fun to be allowed?

When did I say you were not allowed to have any fun?
Course you are. I only said define giggle as the OP sounded like a bit like she wanted to go get pissed and maybe the odd drunken kiss/snog/hand hold - me - yeah, that sounds like there does sound like a chance you could get yourself in trouble.

Btw despite what I said about HROs, (which is true), I don't agree with UAE having this kind of 'fun in the sun' beach tourism. It's not appropriate for a conservative Muslim country.

xenia I know, nakedness is weird...you can strip naked (while female) and ride through town in an open topped bus...but cycle naked (while male) and get repeatedly arrested.

I know you can protest naked in parliament square (while female) though without getting arrested...people do that a lot.

It makes sense that breeze would defend a sexist regime.

Why?

breeze, true of your experience of one representative of one HRO at one event.

And Dubai (not most of the other emirates, which are more conservative) has made the decision to promote itself as a tourist destination to Westerners as a revenue generator. It can’t offer itself as a cultural/historic destination, and the climate for months at a time is simply too hot for outdoor/adventure holidays, so its only options were sun and shopping. Which, yes, is an uncomfortable combination with conservative Muslim values.

Though those values are also at odds with the increasingly westernised and materialistic values of younger Emirati citizens, whose lives are so heavily subsidised by the government and who will often inherit well-paid sinecures that there’s very little push to achieve. Though there is also considerable deprivation among the Bidoon, who don’t have Emirati citizenship.

Middle class warrior?! Well, must say it's first time I've ever been called one of them

Lime, I don't include you. You don't seem that boring. It just pisses me off. I don't like Dubai much and spend around 10 days a minth there (FM large UAE group) but it's mainly the brits. Girls walking round swinging a handbag on theor wrist thonkong thry are a celeb...you are a bloody primary school teacher love! Other places much nicer. Love Doha but sadly can't get there during blockade.

By the way OP I am there now, its freezing and pissing down. I am at JBR and it's pretty dead. I am on my room undera blanket watching four in a bed

Sure the best way to answer people pointing out human rights abuses is to call them names.
And I am very well travelled thank you.

I’ve lived all over the world, including both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and I’m not middle-class, Jasmine.

I am sure you are

'And the "you couldnt pay me to go", boo hoo. A few inexperienced mummies never leave their 2 uo 2 down semi in middle England. '

Or, the people who have been and have witnessed the deluded expats and the excess bling that adds a shiny veneer to all the crap?

The hotels are lovely, there is a rather desperate party scene. It is also corrupt, grim and tacky. That is without the terrible human rights issues and the workers/slaves from poor countries who all love working for rich privileged people (obviously).

I'm pretty sure it's possible to be well travelled and still not want to go to Dubai.

I inspect accomodation of workers regularly and have the power to close areas that do not come up to standard. Doha was much stricter as we were allowed to check passpprts were with the workers as well but UAE are trying. The UK isn't great. Managing chains of hotels 7 years ago, 99% of the domestic workers were illegal immigrants who slept in store rooms and nobody gave a shit.