The Reason for Peer Review!

"Experts say..." "Scientists note..." "Everybody knows..."
Common sayings when one is trying to convince someone else of something of dubious believability. That's why citing sources and peer review are so important. Just because a person is an expert in one field does not make him or her an expert in all fields...despite what one might think. Such is the case with a high-profile cleric in Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Saleh Al-Loheidan noted recently that there is medical evidence that prohibits women from driving. Of course, Saudi Arabia is friendly to the United States so we look the other way as women are constantly denied rights like freedom to get educated, travel or even showing their faces in public or going out on the streets without male permission and/or accompaniment. These policies, of course, are enacted for the sanctity of womanhood since other Arab men would obviously lust after them...and who knows what kind of crazy ideas women would get if they were allowed an education? Twerking and swinging nekkid on a wrecking ball might be the next logical steps!
While I don't personally know any Saudi Women, I'm not certain they feel hampered by these restrictions. heck, they might even like them. One thing is for sure, though: they want to be able to drive a car...thousands have staged protests and/or signed up to do so on October 26th to show that they ARE capable of such things.
Back to Al-Loheidan. He noted that "medical studies show" that continual driving by women resulted in damage to ovaries and pelvises leading to the birth of children with "clinical problems." There was no mention of exactly what these clinical problems were or how they were caused by women driving, but this underscores my point. The mysterious "medical studies" hardly makes me want to inch toward believing the results, but because he is a well-regarded cleric in the country, we are supposed to believe he is also a medical visionary. uh, no. When I read about it in the New England Journal of Medicine, I'll accept it...not before.
However, if women want to drive with their faces covered by black cloth, I might suggest their driving is not the safest practice.
You go, girl, on October 26th.