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Switzerland isn't the most progressive of countries (it only gave women the right to vote in 1971) but AFAIK you don't go to jail if you fuck a man in the ass,

by tomp 2y ago

Switzerland isn't the most progressive of countries (it only gave women the right to vote in 1971) but AFAIK you don't go to jail if you fuck a man in the ass, in contrast to UAE. Not something that directly concerns me, but I'm personally more worried about restrictions on freedom of speech, but regardless not somewhere I'd be willing to live (I currently do live in Switzerland).

keiferski 2y ago
I used Switzerland as an example because of its financial industry. I wasn’t making any commentary on the culture. Presumably if the UAE is the Switzerland of the Middle East and Indian Ocean, it’s more adapted for that cultural environment and not for what Westerners are looking for. These laws are also pretty much never enforced in UAE, as far as I understand.
- Symbiote 2y ago
  The laws are enforced enough that the British government gives a warning about them for visitors to the UAE. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/united-arab-emirates/safety-and-security https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/united-arab-emirate...
  - keiferski 2y ago
    Government websites are known for giving warnings about lots of things that aren’t a big deal in real life. I am basing my opinion on people I know that have been there, plus topics on Reddit, etc. But of course your mileage may vary and it’s reasonable to be worried about such laws if they might apply to you.
- itsoktocry 2y ago
  >These laws are also pretty much never enforced in UAE, as far as I understand. They are never enforced, until you become a target, then you're arrested and charged with a list violations. I mean, we do this too, to some degree. But this is naive.
Symbiote 2y ago
You should be worried about gay rights: some years ago, a French teenage boy was raped by some local men, and the authorities initially tried to get the boy to confess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_rape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_rape has some more examples.
- tomp 2y ago
  Which country are you talking about?
  - Symbiote 2y ago
    UAE, obviously, since I was replying to your comment saying you weren't concerned with gay rights in UAE.
- alwa 2y ago
  That would be 15-year-old Alexandre Robert, in 2007 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_Alexandre_Robert https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_Alexandre_Robert A number of particularly nasty elements to the response—including that the authorities knew that one of the rapists carried HIV, and had previously segregated him in custody to prevent him spreading the virus to other prisoners, but they fabricated medical tests to the contrary and lied to the boy’s family.
ponector 2y ago
Why so harsh example? This one is better: a woman in UAE went to the doctor(gynecologist) and ended up in jail because doctor found out she is pregnant but not married.
- zaphirplane 2y ago
  In America a black man driving a clean car can be pulled over and shot dead by police In many American states a raped woman has to carry her rapist off spring to term In America black people are significantly over represented in jails, poverty, illiteracy, single parent families. I’m sure the 5 largest western democracies have similar issues
  - ponector 2y ago
    Are there special laws for black people? no, it is not comparable with UAE.
    - ceejayoz 2y ago
      > Are there special laws for black people? Formally documented de jure discrimination is hardly the only available approach. For example, the term "grandfather clause" stems from Southern states applying severe voter restrictions (poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.) but exempting anyone whose ancestors had the right to vote on a particular pre-Civil War date. Functionally? Permitted poor/uneducated whites but not blacks to vote without ever mentioning a race in the law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinn_v._United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinn_v._United_States "No person shall be registered as an elector of this state or be allowed to vote in any election held herein, unless he be able to read and write any section of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma; but no person who was, on January 1, 1866, or any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under any form of government, or who at that time resided in some foreign nation, and no lineal descendant of such person, shall be denied the right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and write sections of such Constitution."
    - zaphirplane 2y ago
      Meaningless hair splitting to a middle class black American shot dead for driving a washed car

by tomp 2y ago

keiferski 2y ago

I used Switzerland as an example because of its financial industry. I wasn’t making any commentary on the culture. Presumably if the UAE is the Switzerland of the Middle East and Indian Ocean, it’s more adapted for that cultural environment and not for what Westerners are looking for. These laws are also pretty much never enforced in UAE, as far as I understand.

Symbiote 2y ago
The laws are enforced enough that the British government gives a warning about them for visitors to the UAE. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/united-arab-emirates/safety-and-security https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/united-arab-emirate...
- keiferski 2y ago
  Government websites are known for giving warnings about lots of things that aren’t a big deal in real life. I am basing my opinion on people I know that have been there, plus topics on Reddit, etc. But of course your mileage may vary and it’s reasonable to be worried about such laws if they might apply to you.
itsoktocry 2y ago
>These laws are also pretty much never enforced in UAE, as far as I understand. They are never enforced, until you become a target, then you're arrested and charged with a list violations. I mean, we do this too, to some degree. But this is naive.

Symbiote 2y ago

You should be worried about gay rights: some years ago, a French teenage boy was raped by some local men, and the authorities initially tried to get the boy to confess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_rape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_rape has some more examples.

tomp 2y ago
Which country are you talking about?
- Symbiote 2y ago
  UAE, obviously, since I was replying to your comment saying you weren't concerned with gay rights in UAE.
alwa 2y ago
That would be 15-year-old Alexandre Robert, in 2007 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_Alexandre_Robert https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_Alexandre_Robert A number of particularly nasty elements to the response—including that the authorities knew that one of the rapists carried HIV, and had previously segregated him in custody to prevent him spreading the virus to other prisoners, but they fabricated medical tests to the contrary and lied to the boy’s family.

ponector 2y ago

Why so harsh example? This one is better: a woman in UAE went to the doctor(gynecologist) and ended up in jail because doctor found out she is pregnant but not married.

zaphirplane 2y ago
In America a black man driving a clean car can be pulled over and shot dead by police In many American states a raped woman has to carry her rapist off spring to term In America black people are significantly over represented in jails, poverty, illiteracy, single parent families. I’m sure the 5 largest western democracies have similar issues
- ponector 2y ago
  Are there special laws for black people? no, it is not comparable with UAE.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    > Are there special laws for black people? Formally documented de jure discrimination is hardly the only available approach. For example, the term "grandfather clause" stems from Southern states applying severe voter restrictions (poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.) but exempting anyone whose ancestors had the right to vote on a particular pre-Civil War date. Functionally? Permitted poor/uneducated whites but not blacks to vote without ever mentioning a race in the law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinn_v._United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinn_v._United_States "No person shall be registered as an elector of this state or be allowed to vote in any election held herein, unless he be able to read and write any section of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma; but no person who was, on January 1, 1866, or any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under any form of government, or who at that time resided in some foreign nation, and no lineal descendant of such person, shall be denied the right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and write sections of such Constitution."
  - zaphirplane 2y ago
    Meaningless hair splitting to a middle class black American shot dead for driving a washed car