For Asma, spending a day on the beach with her boyfriend was unthinkable until recently in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia, france24.com notes in the following report:
Now, the 32-year-old is dancing with her partner on white sands fringing the Red Sea, to music thumping from loudspeakers.
It’s a small reminder of the changes underway in the Islamic kingdom, which is attempting to ease some of its tight social strictures in a modernization drive at the same time as a crackdown on dissent.
Music was banned in public places until 2017, a measure enforced by the religious police, and women were only allowed to drive a year later. Beaches are still usually segregated between men and women.
But for 300 Saudi riyals ($80) each, Asma and her boyfriend can enter Pure Beach near Jeddah, with its music, dancing, and inflatable water park spelling “Saudi Arabia” in English when viewed from above.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Ras67
