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Getting serious
Saudi Arabia's religious police have announced a ban on selling cats and dogs as pets, or walking them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women, an official said on Wednesday.
...Othman said that the commission has instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops "to stop selling cats and dogs".
Here is the full story. This is, of course, a net benefit for the offenders to date. The newly created artificial scarcity increases the conversation value of the already owned animals and also confers a positive wealth effect on the wrongdoers. Is it not better to stop xxxx by giving everyone a pet and thus eliminating its conversational value? By the way, if this edict is enforced, we can expect an increase in the pet birth rate and also a greater number of abandoned pets.
The final question, of course, is how do you use a pet cat to make a pass at a woman? I've heard of people walking their cats, but I expect it is not an easy experience. To limit sex, cats should be subsidized, not taxed. No?
Posted by Tyler Cowen on July 31, 2008 at 01:36 PM in Law | Permalink
Comments
It may not be easy, but then that's why I would be impressed by a man who could successfully walk a cat.
Posted by: Kat at Jul 31, 2008 1:44:22 PM
Is it not better to stop fornication by giving everyone a pet and thus eliminating its conversational value?
I don't think so, because cats aren't fungible like a barrel of oil or a bushel of wheat. Since they're heterogeneous, they'd still have the conversational aspect. "Oh you have an orange cat. How sweet. Mine is black and white. Why don't you come over to my place and we can play with the cats?"
Posted by: katiet at Jul 31, 2008 1:47:58 PM
If you get them used to it, cats are okay with leashes. But you got to start them young, just like with toddlers and L.U.G.'s.
Posted by: Xmas at Jul 31, 2008 1:53:25 PM
I'm thinking that this is a law aimed squarely at expats living in KSA. Dogs are not liked in the Arab world, they are considered little more than large rats to most people, so I can't imagine too many Saudis being affected by the ban on buying dogs. Who walks a cat? To my mind, the ban on buying cats is probably put on there because westerners love cats and dogs and the people drafting the law aren't that familiar with pet ownership. As far as "making passes," that is Saudi-speak for women and men talking to each other. Any interaction between non-married women and men is considered a prelude to them jumping in bed.
I have always thought that the Saudi's labeling of everything as sexual is misfiring badly. They do it to supposedly protect people from immoral action. The trouble is that if you label everything, and I mean darn near everything, with a sexual label, people will think that those things actually do have sexual overtones. There are people over there that don't think that men should hug their sisters or daughters, because they think it might lead to sexual feelings. You can't walk outside with wet hair because it means you just had sex. The list goes on and on... One of their common complaints about our culture is that it is hyper-sexualized. That may be true, but at least the things that are sexual here are about, you know.. sex, and not about having a conversation or walking our dog...
Isaac Crawford
Blogging in yemen
www.isaharr.com
Posted by: Isaac Crawford at Jul 31, 2008 1:54:23 PM
Forget using a cat to make a pass at a women--Has anyone ever actually seen a man walking a cat? Given the shorter stride length of cats (and longer stride of adult men) and the general unwillingness of a cat to maintain a consistent speed and direction, I'm really having a hard time visualizing this.
Posted by: Scott at Jul 31, 2008 1:55:05 PM
Right on with the subsidy. Encouraging women to become crazy cat ladies with a dozen felines per household would certainly discourage sex.
Does carrying a puppy or kitten in your arms as you walk down the street count as walking it? This can be quite a magnet for female passersby striking up conversations. Or so I'm told.
Posted by: at Jul 31, 2008 1:59:43 PM
I have seen a man (as opposed to a woman) walk a cat.
Walking a cat doesn't seem difficult, but they seem bad for meeting people, since they don't like strangers the way a dog does.
Posted by: Douglas Knight at Jul 31, 2008 2:16:03 PM
...and responding to the rest of Scott's comment, I think walking a cat is more letting the cat walk you.
Posted by: Douglas Knight at Jul 31, 2008 2:18:34 PM
Carrying your female hiking partner's tired dog up the side of a mountain can transform you into marriage material.
Posted by: jj at Jul 31, 2008 2:20:20 PM
Walking a cat is not hard if you pay attention.
You have to be ready to wait for the cat to make up his mind that the next little bit is safe. If he's not sure he'll run to the next spot that looks defensible. If he's really not sure he'll stop and wait.
You don't want to try to walk your cat into the territory of a big mean cat. You can tell when he gets real nervous about following you. If you insist on continuing he'll probably follow you, and then when the other cat starts chasing him they'll both go faster than you're probably ready to. Or they might get a standoff under two parked cars and it's only polite to wait until they get things settled. You might help threaten the other cat then, but I'm not sure about all the rules. I've embarrassed cats badly sometimes by standing up for them.
I've never met a woman while walking a cat. But I also haven't had a cat until I got a live-in girlfriend and wife, and it probably showed.
Posted by: J Thomas at Jul 31, 2008 2:44:13 PM
I am surprised that they sell dogs in Saudi Arabia. I believe they are technically forbidden by religious law. In England for instance it has been decided that all British Police Sniffer dogs will wear boots from now on to avoid offending the local Muslim population:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4276489.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084
I wonder if this "forbidden" aspect of dogs raises the profile of their owners in places like Saudi Arabia somehow? Perhaps scarcity already existed in other words.
Posted by: Yaku at Jul 31, 2008 3:02:57 PM
Forget the cats, lets talk about how J. Thomas manages the live-in girlfriend and the wife.
Posted by: Brad at Jul 31, 2008 3:08:28 PM
Dogs aren't actually "forbidden" (haramm), but they are considered dirty, filthy creatures. If a dog licks you, you are considered ritually unclean and have to go through a process to be clean again. The same goes for a dog licking your clothes. You can't pray in them again until they have been washed several times. A couple of the times have to be with water, and there is at least one time you have to wash with sand. Muslims do use dogs as guard dogs in certain situations, but they'd never have them as a pet.
Isaac Crawford
Blogging in Yemen
www.isaharr.com
Posted by: Isaac Crawford at Jul 31, 2008 3:21:25 PM
Never mind the artifical scarcity issue, let's think about substitutes. Just wait until these people have to resort to trying to use ferrets as pickup animals. Ew.
Posted by: econgirl at Jul 31, 2008 4:18:00 PM
Is there a legal name attached to the author of this news
story somewhere? This sounds like bullshit, if it's
a legitimate story i'd like at least a second source.
Muslim chicks do dig the beautiful cats--nice effort
gentlemen if true.
Posted by: Jarrod Myrick at Jul 31, 2008 4:23:08 PM
I love walking my (small & unscary) dogs through Century City Mall and The Grove in LA. In a Coach store, a hijab-wearing woman took a look at my dogs and ran out of the store with a horrific look on her face. That's what we call a meeting of cultures.
Posted by: Mr. Econotarian at Jul 31, 2008 4:30:34 PM
This was my favorite post in a very long time. Well done.
Posted by: David at Jul 31, 2008 4:30:45 PM
By the way, the Quran doesn't say anything bad about dogs:
http://www.submission.org/pets/dogs2.html
But Hadith (especially by Abu Huraira) says lots of bad things about dogs:
http://muttaqun.com/dogs.html
such as:
I heard Allah's Apostle saying; "Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal)."
Posted by: Mr. Econotarian at Jul 31, 2008 4:40:17 PM
A guy walking a cat is clearly good marriage material... He's already "whipped", right?
Separation of church and state is a really good deal.
Posted by: BoscoH at Jul 31, 2008 5:41:20 PM
There's a guy in NYC who "walks" his cat by balancing the darn thing on his head. The guy really strolls through the city with a cat perched on his noggin.
Yes, he attracts the attention of the sort of folks you might expect and seems to have a significant other. Aren't there any crazy people in Saudi Arabia?
Posted by: mister rush at Jul 31, 2008 8:39:47 PM
Arabs see the saluki as a noble dog, used for hunting, and many have them as pets. How they differentiate between them and other dogs always seemed like a bit of cognitive dissonance to me (not that there isn't already an ocean of that in the Arab world.)
Also, the muttawa seem to have less real power with every passing day. They're mostly ex-cons who join the muttawa to appear pious, but it's basically an excuse to allow them to be petty thugs. Trouble is, too many people are ignoring them or fighting back.
Posted by: bartman at Aug 1, 2008 12:11:27 AM
Or they might get a standoff under two parked cars and it's only polite to wait until they get things settled. You might help threaten the other cat then, but I'm not sure about all the rules. I've embarrassed cats badly sometimes by standing up for them.
LOL. Comment of the month.
Posted by: delta Lasker at Aug 1, 2008 2:17:09 AM
If "because of men using them as a means of making passes at women" is the cause, they really need to stop cellphones, cameras and other modern devices and not cats.
Am wondering if the tents are not efficient enough?
Posted by: N at Aug 1, 2008 3:11:31 AM
Why would you call a Saudi " A SAUDI " if they dont make the cruel, stupid, inhuman laws and procedures? House of Saaud ( Abdel Aziz ) are most arrogant creatures on the face of earth. Even in the 21st century, they are hopeless and all this they are doing in the name of Islam, while basically they have nothing to do even with basic humanity rather a or any religion.
Posted by: Hassan at Aug 1, 2008 8:13:14 AM
My friend Michael walks his cat every day. He moved to a busy inner city street where it is too dangerous to let the cat run free as it had in his previous home. His cat is 6 years old, took immediately to the leash, no protest, loves his walks.
Posted by: Mark at Aug 1, 2008 11:56:54 AM
