While Saudi women are increasingly finding a voice for expression over the blogosphere, they have been met by resistance by conservative voices and censorship monitors in the country.

Recent controversy has erupted over the blog by Saudi Eve. Saudi Eve’s blog which included posts on love and religion and is written in both Arabic and English was so controversial that the Saudi government has blocked access to her blog. A posting from her site reads:

I have a persisting daydream..
I walk a Saudi street.. I'm wearing a abaya.. every type of harassment I've ever been subjugated to on a Saudi street (staring, terrifying religious advice, explicit sexual advances..etc.) are instead represented by one action: people pulling on my abaya, one after the other, force depends on how severe the harassment is...

I carry this futuristic beam weapon, I shoot them, they evaporize.
I become larger with each hit I make.. and the abaya gets torn a bit each time.. after a couple of hits, I'm very large (tall as a two story house) and almost naked, I'm left with a two piece ensemble that looks like a belly dancers' costume but black.. yet no one comes near me now.. they are afraid..
after that, I just walk the streets of Saudi.. feminine, and undisturbed.

The Christian Science Monitor called the blocking of Saudi Eve’s blog, “The beginning of a cyber battle between liberal Saudi bloggers and their more conservative counterparts.” From an email exchange with Saudi Eve, the Christian Science Monitor was able to get her opinion on why her site was blocked.

"In my opinion, my blog was singled out and blocked because I - a Saudi female - wrote about romantic escapades in Arabic, plus I committed the ‘ultimate sin’ by mentioning the name of God in those posts," she explained. "To a Saudi male, romance is only allowed if written in English or by a male. It definitely isn't tolerated if it's written by a Saudi female, let alone in Arabic."

The conservative group of Saudi Bloggers called the Official Community of Saudi Arabian Bloggers (OCSAB) has for the large part taken on responsibility for monitoring blogs.

One blogger wanting to be identified only by her first name Jo, said in a recent interview with the Christian Science monitor,
"We have this clash going on between us liberals and the conservatives in the blogosphere, I think that OSCAB is trying to scare us."
Reaction in the Saudi Blogging community was quite strong when Saudi Eve’s blog was blocked. Bloggers responded by shunning the authorities who had blocked Saudi Eve, by calling for her blog to be unblocked Unblock request form, and by posting instructions on to get around the block and access the blog. One blog entitled Alien Memoirs, posted links to petitions to unblock Saudi Eve's site, and wrote about the blockers,

"They are petrified and in panic mode. Constantly in fear of decay, fear of being exposed and ultimately fear of change and transformation. As a final resort, they had to lash back and curb the sources of their horror. It's the only weapon at their disposal. This is a fight for survival."

The advent of more blogging in Saudi Arabia, especially among Saudi women has created a dichotomy of Saudi women freely expressing their views, their emotions and their frustrations in a society that restricts not only the movement but also the public expression of women.

The Saudi government’s filtering policy
List of URL’s blocked in Saudi Arabia



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