Kuwait: Blackberry Lunches, Arab Sex Talk and Election Responsibility Plea · Global Voices
Amer Al-Hilal

From the censorship of video games to discussions about Kuwait's upcoming parliamentary elections on May 16, the Kuwaiti blogosphere offers a mixed bag this week.
Kuwait's Ministry of Information’s censorship is also extending to video games now, according to Mark’s Ministry of Video Games post from 248.am:
“I just found out that there are three people (2 guys 1 girl) at the ministry who’s job is to test video games all day. They play every game that needs to be brought into Kuwait to make sure they don’t contain anything illegal like nudity”.
The upcoming May 16 Kuwaiti elections are on everyone's mind as well, and Aggz The Agressor makes an impassioned plea for collective responsibility in a post entitled “A Vote For Responsibility” at Hilaliya:
Vote wisely. It's not just about improving government services; it's ensuring that these services continue to survive after the economy shrinks from complete oil dependence in sixty or seventy years time; according to recent estimates (some reports claim a maximum of forty years). I have a 2 year old daughter, by the time she's a mother, her children will face Kuwait's hardest economic situation ever-a country without oil to fuel the state's expenditures and services. In other words, what I as a parent decide today will affect my grandchildren's future wellbeing. By selecting the right MP, we as voters set the standards for a better future, it's not about voting for someone who would be able to help me grab a government-built house quicker than the rest, or someone who would be able to process my papers with his influence or some other short-term personal gain.
Moving on to technology with Z District’s Marzouq; in a post entitled ‘The Blackberry Lunch’ talks about how efficient and addictive the Blackberry’s BBM chat service and how archaic SMS’s are compared to it.
“BBM group chat – this is damn addicting and you can notice others who are addicted to it. The one time Zains’ blackberry service went down, I was really really annoyed that I had to use sms to communicate with people, it felt so archaic and slow in comparison with BBM which gives you answer right away, and it so damn satisfying. I even get annoyed with those that don’t answer right away or are too slow to type. I think that BBM is an excellent feature, but sometimes you just have to put it down and enjoy what ever you are doing.”
Eshda3wa in a post called ‘Sex Talk’ criticizes Arab women for talking openly about sex in public places or amongst each other.
“I'm sure all of you noticed, Arab women love talking about sex. Once you’re married, or they deem you old enough, there are no boundaries to what they say in front of you. I HATE that. Sometimes even women you barely know will start talking about their sex life and all I wanna say is what the freaky deaky F is wrong with you. For example, a few days ago while at work, I was having my morning coffee and talking with one of the nurses about laser eye surgery. I always wear my glasses. She wears contacts, and apparently is blind as a bat without them. Then she goes on to say she has to wear them even during sex. Because if she can’t see her husband she can never be satisfied, and it takes her way too long to reach a climax. MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. Did i need to know that? Did I?”
Lastly, LOFT965 talks about Arab feminism and how it features “a correlation between a culture’s treatment of women and its own brand of linguistics” but that it was time now to be more politically correct and remove gender specific words from our language.
LOFT965 also posts the following video from ‘The Hariri Foundation‘ concerning the ‘Women Empowerment Program':
“This has prevailed on for way too far and even as the Arabic language is one of the most eloquent languages in the world there seems to be no way around using gender non-specific words. It’s time we removed gender from the vocabulary. That’s the only way to progress. You know, gender is an illusion”.