Saudi Arabia is one of the premier pilgrimage sites in the world, outstripping Jerusalem, the Vatican, Angkor Wat, and every other religious destination, except for India’s Kumbh Mela (which attracts as many as 50 million pilgrims every three years).
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No, it doesn’t matter if their treatment of women is repugnant. No, it doesn’t matter if their upper classes’ behavior is hypocritical. No, it doesn’t matter if their society is “stuck in the past.” There’s no excuse for wasting the rare and precious opportunity to represent your entire gender and culture as a thoughtful equal.
Maureen Dowd’s determination to flagrantly disrespect and repeatedly disregard local norms and mores in the name of petulance is awe-inspiring. But, hey, the final scene of A Girls’ Guide to Saudi Arabia is a “sensual” and hedonistic evening on anonymous sheik’s boat in the Red Sea.