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    Octopit didn't choose the burrito life, the burrito life chose octopit.Aimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:38am

    Wait! Has the US heard about this? YOU CAN JAIL RAPE VICTIMS? How is the US not all over this!?

    I mean, they already don’t believe them, don’t prosecute the majority of rape cases, don’t give harsh jail time to the 2% of rapist that actually DO serve jail time... HAVE THEY HEARD YOU CAN JAIL THE VICTIM?! They would be so into this new development.

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      Nicole WattersonOctopit didn't choose the burrito life, the burrito life chose octopit.
      6/13/16 10:43am

      Don’t even try to make this about the US. We both know that there simply is no comparison between the two.

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      Octopit didn't choose the burrito life, the burrito life chose octopit.Nicole Watterson
      6/13/16 10:53am

      Here is what I know, Qatar is an ally of america. We provide them weapons, we have military bases there, we support them. AMERICA ENABLES THIS BULLSHIT. Just like with Saudi Arabia.

      Americas treatment of rape victims is very bad. Qatars treatment of rape victims is fucking abysmal and America enables their government. So while the us might not be the worst between the two, the US is perfectly okay with supporting the worst.

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    sybannAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:38am

    Why does anyone go there? Let them choke on their religious/social bullshit.

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      Mike Pipper Super GIF Enthusiastsybann
      6/13/16 10:47am

      I imagine it’s just as schizophrenic as Dubai.

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      Mayotonillasybann
      6/13/16 10:52am

      Be careful, some feminists think that we can only hate on national patriarchy, any criticism of international misogyny is deemed imperialism.

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    weebleswobbleAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:31am

    Good thing the World Cup will be there. No one drinks or fornicates out of marriage at major international sporting events.

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      librarianofcatsweebleswobble
      6/13/16 10:49am

      Yup they don’t do stupid stuff like drink, have crazy ass parties, and sex up the place....

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      ideasleepfuriouslyweebleswobble
      6/13/16 10:57am

      Can you imagine if they were held the Olympics there? The athlete’s village would have to be like Guantanamo.

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    purpledwaynepurpledwayneAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:46am

    I wish we could get our oil from someplace reasonable like Norway and let these backwards ass religious freaks sink back into poverty and get back to living in tents and chopping each others heads off.

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      Mayotonillapurpledwaynepurpledwayne
      6/13/16 10:54am

      I wish we could not use so much oil. That would be even better.

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      purpledwaynepurpledwayneMayotonilla
      6/13/16 10:56am

      Never happen, not with oil prices so low after the Saudis glutted the market.

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    MishaBishaAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 11:47am

    I lived in Dubai for years and I travelled all over the Muslim world, including to Qatar. I pretty much just accepted that if I were raped I wouldn’t report it. Every rape I ever heard of while I was there ended in a conviction for the survivor as well as for the rapist.

    Under Sharia, you need two male witnesses in good standing in the community to testify to a rape because a man’s testimony is worth more than a woman’s (the lack of witnesses is probably why there was no rape conviction in this case, although that’s pure speculation on my part). The woman raped by that Stanford swimmer had two male witnesses in good standing in the community, which is the only reason that tool ever went to trial and was convicted and he still only got six months. We’re not so much better. The guy who raped Laura was sentenced to 140 lashes (100 for illicit sex (not rape) and 40 for drinking alcohol).

    Not excusing Qatar - it fucking sucks. But also not thinking how super awesome we are in the West, either.

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      Potatoes Gonna PotateMishaBisha
      6/13/16 12:10pm

      This might be a dumb question... But how can the bar serve alcohol if consuming alcohol is illegal?

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      Flutterby PlantPotatoes Gonna Potate
      6/13/16 12:19pm

      It’s not illegal to buy or consume alcohol. It depends on who you are. If you’re a tourist or visitor, you can buy alcohol in the 5* hotels, and if you’re a foreign worker and your employer does not object, you can have buy a license to buy alcohol to drink at home.

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    eoghan01Aimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:29am

    Qatar seems like such a great place to hold a major international sporting event. What could possibly go wrong?

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      AmandaLaurenWants50MoreBuckseoghan01
      6/13/16 10:38am

      We will find out 5 years later that Qatar murdered all the slaves who built the venues and left them in mass graves in the desert because they don’t want undesirables floating around the country during the world cup.

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      Grr!Arrgh!eoghan01
      6/13/16 11:07am

      I know! I’m excited for the World Cup to interrupt the usual scheduled of every European league and be truncated by 5 days because they couldn’t play in 106 degree heat! And to see the stadiums that are being built with what is essentially slave labor, hundreds of whom have died in the attempt so far! Also, I’m super stoked to have to sit apart from my male friends should I go, not be able to drink, and face jail time for my own sexual assault if something should happen!

      I’m so glad the unbiased and incorruptible stalwarts of moral virtue over at FIFA decided to send one of my favorite sporting events to Qatar!

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    BlondeGoddessAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:58am

    A friend of mine in Dubai had to smuggle her unmarried, pregnant nanny out of the country for the same reasons: she would have gone to prison. Great place, the Emirates!

    There’s something weird about this story though. She was supposed to go to France, and instead went to Qatar, which none of her friends or family knew about. She kept her arrest hidden for weeks.

    Her rapist was punished with 140 whiplashes for drinking and fornicating.

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      Hank ScorpioBlondeGoddess
      6/13/16 11:14am

      Her rapist was punished with 140 whiplashes

      The one part of this story I like!

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      BlondeGoddessHank Scorpio
      6/13/16 1:04pm

      That’s why I mentioned it!

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    angriest-squirrelAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:37am

    In U.A.E, the law states that there must be 3 or 4 male witnesses in order for an assault to be called a rape—or the attacker must confess. Otherwise, the woman could be imprisoned for sex outside of marriage. In some cases, the rapist is imprisoned too.

    If I remember correctly, the case of the Norwegian woman, she was given a harsher sentence than her rapist because she had “perjured” herself (she said that the man had raped her—there weren’t any witnesses, so it was deemed sex outside of marriage—> perjury). Something similar happened to an Australian woman.

    Basically: if you report a rape in a place with legal statutes based on sharia law, you stand a good chance of going to jail.

    I don’t know what else to say. The awfulness is too great.

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      MicroAgressionsAboundangriest-squirrel
      6/13/16 11:45am

      Which is why I ask myself whenever I hear ridiculous stories like this “why would someone CHOOSE to vacay in such a place that’s so fucking hostile to women? Especially Western women.

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    Angelica SchuylerAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 10:42am

    FIFA is such a fucking disgrace. They’ve known about this.

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      ncoliphantAngelica Schuyler
      6/13/16 11:17am

      If all the sponsors backed out they wouldn’t be able to hold the event. So technically, it’s Coca Cola, Budweiser, etc that are ok with jailing rape victims.

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      c_lamotteAngelica Schuyler
      6/13/16 12:40pm

      Didn’t Qatar basically buy the World Cup? Wasn’t that why the guy with the goofy name was ousted as FIFA’s head?

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    CmdrBnaAimée Lutkin
    6/13/16 11:26am

    Instead of writing that Laura was having “drinks with a friend,” should this read “drinks with a rapist?”

    I have two acquaintances who lived in Qatar for a few years and it sounded like a fucking nightmare. They had to get married (they have, of course, since divorced) since it was illegal for them to live together without being married.

    Also, I imagine some Republicans are looking to Qatar for inspiration.

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      Flutterby PlantCmdrBna
      6/13/16 12:32pm

      I live in Qatar and don’t find it a difficult place to be as a western woman. I suppose it depends what sort of lifestyle you’re after. It wouldn’t have suited me 15 years ago. I do enjoy being here

      I do have some colleagues here who I worry about- choices that they make which would not be at all problematic in their home country are dangerous here. They’ve had all the information- it’s up to them how they use it.

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      CmdrBnaFlutterby Plant
      6/13/16 12:59pm

      #notallqatar #goodforyouorwhatever

      What choice are you referring to here? Laura’s choice to report her rape?

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