Comments on: 68 Percent of Saudi Girls Drop Last Name on Facebook

By: Abu Sinan

Abu Sinan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:08:29 +0000

My wife is a Saudi and uses her real name on FB. She does live here in the West. It isnt really about being in the West, however, or being in a “freer society”. It is about family pressure and issues and these remain whether in Riyadh, Jeddah or the West.

We know many Saudi women who use fake or partial names, do not post pictures or the like, it is to protect them against their family and also people from their culture who’d exploit stuff they find online to blackmail.

It is interesting to note that we know more than a few Saudi women on Muslim marriage sites who refuse to use their pictures or their real names there for the same reasons.

By: aliya

aliya — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:32 +0000

This is an article that might be interesting to include in Friday links:

http://durkadurkistan.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/anti-muslim-pornography-on-the-huffington-post/

And the blog looks really neat too, looks like someone to follow.

By: Corey

Corey — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:13:25 +0000

Here’s my unscientific responses:

Of the 10 Saudi women who are friends on my FB, all use their real names, but only one uses her real photo and one wears the niqab in her photo. All write in English, and only occasionally use Anglicized English.

By: RCHOUDH

RCHOUDH — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:38:24 +0000

I’m curious to know why it’s assumed that just because Saudi women on FB don’t reveal their last names and pictures that that automatically means they would have done so if they lived in a “freer” society. I’m on FB and I don’t upload pics of myself online because I don’t want it to become public property (which I’ve heard it becomes a possibility of being on FB). And FB’s images policy is not very consistent you can view another person’s photos even if you are not their “friend”. So I think another reason has to be looked at for why these women don’t reveal too much and that is that they may not want their images to be floating around in cyberspace for perfect strangers to see. Cultural/religious factors and upbringing can play a role in how we live the world even if such an upbringing was done casually.

By: Finding Bibi » Monday Morning Roundup

Finding Bibi » Monday Morning Roundup — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:00:57 +0000

[...] 68% of Saudi girls drop last name on Facebook, Muslimah Media Watch [...]