Maids, Slaves, and Prisoners

ONE night in 1998, “Saida,” a young Filipina, was carried bloody and unconscious into a hospital emergency room. The Saudi man who took her there was not a Good Samaritan; he was her rapist. He was also a good friend of the Saudi couple who employed her as a domestic servant. When her employers learned of the rape, they rushed to the hospital—not to help her, but to whisk her out before she could incriminate their friend. They took her back into their abusive custody, where she was to see the rapist again.

This horror story took place not in Saudi Arabia, but in northern Virginia. Saida was relatively fortunate, in that her ordeal happened in the U.S.: When she escaped a year later, there were places where she could take refuge—something that would have been virtually impossible in Saudi Arabia. But Saida is not the only woman to be trapped and abused in a Saudi household in America. NR has spoken with a dozen such women (or, in three of the cases, their friends or attorneys) , and all agree that their situations were not isolated incidents. Saudi culture, the women explain, includes dominance and abuse—and that “lifestyle” is brought to the U.S. in Saudis’ baggage.

JM

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Joel Mowbray

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ONE night in 1998, “Saida,” a young Filipina, was carried bloody and unconscious into a hospital emergency room. The Saudi man who took her there was not a Good Samaritan; he was her rapist. He was also a good friend of the Saudi couple who employed her as a domestic servant. When her employers learned of the rape, they rushed to the hospital—not to help her, but to whisk her out before she could incriminate their friend. They took her back into their abusive custody, where she was to see the rapist again.

This horror story took place not in Saudi Arabia, but in northern Virginia. Saida was relatively fortunate, in that her ordeal happened in the U.S.: When she escaped a year later, there were places where she could take refuge—something that would have been virtually impossible in Saudi Arabia. But Saida is not the only woman to be trapped and abused in a Saudi household in America. NR has spoken with a dozen such women (or, in three of the cases, their friends or attorneys) , and all agree that their situations were not isolated incidents. Saudi culture, the women explain, includes dominance and abuse—and that “lifestyle” is brought to the U.S. in Saudis’ baggage.