21 Apr 2012

Spate of "emos" Murdered - Saudi Arabia bans Gays, tomboys and “emos” from schools

Gays, tomboys and “emos” can no long enter public schools and universities in Saudi Arabia, until they change their appearance and behavior. That is how the country has chosen to tackle the spread of these "phenomena".
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the country’s the most feared law enforcement agency, has received high-level orders to enforce new rules on homosexuality, girls who adopt masculine appearances and those emulating “emo” subculture, local media report.
“Instructions have been issued to all public schools and universities to ban the entry of gays and tomboys and to intensify their efforts to fight this phenomenon, which has been promoted by some websites,”
 the report said. 


However, they did not make clear who issued the instructions. 

Banned teenagers will be allowed back to school only if they “stop such practices” and “unacceptable behavior” in public places.

Saudi Arabia operates under Sharia, or Islamic, law and punishes homosexuality with sentences of corporal and capital punishment. 

Two years ago, Saudi authorities toughened a law banning the hiring of gays and lesbians.
“Emo” subculture has also been condemned in many Islamic countries. Iraq has been seeing a spate of murders of young men dressed as “emos” since February.
Emo (play /ˈm/) is a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock and encapsulated in the early 1990s by groups such as Jawbreakerand Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid 1990s numerous emo acts emerged from the Midwestern and Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the style.
Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the subgenre "screamo". In recent years the term "emo" has been applied by critics and journalists to a variety of artists, including multiplatinum acts and groups with disparate styles and sounds.
In addition to music, "emo" is often used more generally to signify a particular relationship between fans and artists, and to describe related aspects of fashion, culture, and behavior.

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