During our regular breakfast at the office break we were scrolling through Twitter on our phones, and a trending hashtag was about co-workers having breakfast together as well. To our surprise, the man having breakfast was being deported for doing so.
In a desperate attempt for us to finish our breakfast and look into the hashtag as well, we fell into the rabbit hole of confusion; why is this an issue?
The “Egyptian having breakfast with a Saudi woman” hashtag (#مصري_يفطر_مع_سعوديه) is apparently causing controversy in Saudi Arabia, because how dare an Egyptian man have breakfast with his female co-worker?
The Egyptian man in question, named Bahaa, posted a video of himself and his female co-worker having breakfast at an obvious working space, and this by itself was a reason for Saudi citizens and the government, to lose their minds, and a valid reason to deport the man.
Habib bin Mubarak on Twitter: “مشكلة “بهاء” أنه صور بس وعلى حسب صحيفة سبق (جاهر)!فالمشكلة هنا التصوير فقط، يعني ولو ما صور كان الوضع بيكون عادي جداً😄والكل يدري أن سبب هذا الإنفلات اللي صاير و اللي يصير كل يوم لكن “محد يصور” هو بكل بساطة (الإختلاط)! بس محد يبي يقول، أهم شيء يتوظفون.#مصري_يفطر_مع_سعوديه pic.twitter.com/pSn4yWqJU2 / Twitter”
مشكلة “بهاء” أنه صور بس وعلى حسب صحيفة سبق (جاهر)!فالمشكلة هنا التصوير فقط، يعني ولو ما صور كان الوضع بيكون عادي جداً😄والكل يدري أن سبب هذا الإنفلات اللي صاير و اللي يصير كل يوم لكن “محد يصور” هو بكل بساطة (الإختلاط)! بس محد يبي يقول، أهم شيء يتوظفون.#مصري_يفطر_مع_سعوديه pic.twitter.com/pSn4yWqJU2
Saudi citizens started attacking Bahaa and the woman in the video.
https://twitter.com/shinichisag/status/1038760526824783872
Some even used religion as the reason for their attack on the incident.
https://twitter.com/abasem77/status/1038763387268866048
While others defended the actions of the co-workers.
https://twitter.com/h_i_h_i__q/status/1038748904001626112
Some thought this would be an issue for businesses that want to invest in Saudi.
https://twitter.com/turnernoone/status/1038758794052993024
Yet somehow, the hashtag was used as a medium to promote an event about “Building the Future” of Saudi.
https://twitter.com/ICCE_KSA/status/1038751680584663043
In conclusion: We’re confused. Why is this an issue in 2018? Why are Saudis “protecting their women” when they are adults who are eating at their workplace, yet they leave other women who get killed because of the country’s well-known misogyny?
Maybe it’s something to think about next time when you’re having lunch with your co-worker from the opposite sex.
