Saudi cleric says driving risks damaging women's ovaries

[klr]

Women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and producing children with clinical problems, according to a conservative Saudi cleric.

The comment, made by Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan, came as activists step up their campaign for women in Saudi Arabia to be allowed to drive.

Women are being called upon to defy the ban and drive on 26 October.

The campaign, started on Twitter, has attracted more than 11,000 signatures.

It is the latest in a series of campaigns over the past two decades for women to be allowed to sit behind the wheel.

The ban on women drivers, while informal, is enforced by Saudi police through fines and arrests. Only men are permitted to acquire driving licences.

"If a woman drives a car, not out of pure necessity, that could have negative physiological impacts as functional and physiological medical studies show that it automatically affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upwards," Sheikh Lohaidan told the news website Sabq.org.

"That is why we find those who regularly drive have children with clinical problems of varying degrees."

Sheikh Lohaidan is reported to be opposed to reform more generally and granting women more rights in the kingdom.

Opponents of giving women the right to drive in Saudi Arabia say it offends the country's traditional code.

But those behind the campaign for the ban to be lifted point to inconsistencies, such as the need for women to employ a male driver who is not a family member.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24323934

[Calilasseia]

Oh look. More bollocks from a religious fuckwit who manifestly knows less about real human biology than I do about the extant conditions on Gliese 581c. Why am I not in the least surprised to see this fuckwittery coming from a "conservative cleric"?

[klr]

You wonder how he could claim such a thing with a straight face, but he may have convinced himself that it's true.

[Thinking Aloud]

You wonder how he could claim such a thing with a straight face, but he may have convinced himself that it's true.

That applies to all religious "knowledge" when viewed from the outside.

[mistermack]

The silly cunt believes that the creator of the Universe dictated a book to Mohammed, and the book contained exactly nothing new, nothing that wasn't already known, just a blog of opinions remarkably like what a desert dweller might write at the time.
He also believes in devils and angels etc etc.
So believing shit that he just made up is hardly surprising. It's following in the footsteps of Mohammed.

[cronus]

He could have a point. Which studies is he referring too? Don't dismiss a claim simply because it appears absurd. We'd have no gravity and be floating away in space if they'd ignored Newton and his apple.

[klr]

He could have a point. Which studies is he referring too? Don't dismiss a claim simply because it appears absurd. We'd have no gravity and be floating away in space if they'd ignored Newton and his apple.

Oh sure, I'm certain he's supported by peer-reviewed studies that have appeared in The Lancet and other medical journals.

[cronus]

He could have a point. Which studies is he referring too? Don't dismiss a claim simply because it appears absurd. We'd have no gravity and be floating away in space if they'd ignored Newton and his apple.

Oh sure, I'm certain he's supported by peer-reviewed studies that have appeared in The Lancet and other medical journals.

You could be right. He may be reading something from a 1962 edition with it being timewarped that way?

[Svartalf]

You wonder how he could claim such a thing with a straight face, but he may have convinced himself that it's true.

He's convinced me that there are more neurons in a bowl of tofu than in his head.

[Ian]

I doubt driving damages women's ovaries, but I know for a fact that my daily commute increases my blood pressure.

[JimC]

Fuck him, and the camel he rode into town on...

[klr]

Fuck him, and the camel he rode into town on...

Now Jim, that's racist.

... although it may well be historically correct.

[Tyrannical]

He's right though. Women can't see shit through a burqa and get into frequent accidents

[Seabass]

and the camel he rode into town on...

That's got to be rough on the testicles.

[JimC]

and the camel he rode into town on...

That's got to be rough on the testicles.

Fucking 'em or riding 'em?