not Kansas indeed

[aruan]

Raids on mixed-sex housing under way in Sharjah | Gulf News

Sharjah is the most conservative of the UAE's seven emirates. There, you could be arrested for being with a member of the opposite sex not your spouse or relative, having a tattoo and possessing pornography, alcohol or a dog (considered highly unclean in Islam). Now, that is not Abu Dhabi, where people have dogs as pets and stores carry pork (in special areas with highly visible signage). Still, the possibility of the same thing happening here remains as cohabitation is technically illegal. I'm suddenly very glad we didn't brush off the warning about that and stepped up the marriage plans.

Comments

[saturn92103.livejournal.com]

It was fascinating to read the comments for that article.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Aren't they? I love the first one the most - condemning cohabitants, but quick to absolve the villa owners who rent to both men and women because of the rising cost of living. The hypocrisy in this country can be completely unending.

What the commenters don't get is that men and women living together here doesn't necessarily mean premarital sex. It means rents are astronomical, and people are living in less than ideal situations anywhere they can find them just to get by. Others among the commenters are right - there is barely any housing, let alone affordable housing, for singles. Technically there are limits on how many people can share a room, but it's another unenforced rule.