- Saudi Tales of Love
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I was 16 when my now ex-husband proposed. His aunt had introduced us. I saw marriage as an escape from my parents, whom I considered overprotective. We married in 2002.
Five years later, I was a mother of two daughters, Sura and Yara. I expected that one day I might come to love my husband as I did my children, but that never happened. After a decade of marriage, we finally divorced.
For years, I blamed my parents. How could they allow me to wed so young? And why couldn’t they support my divorce years later?
They told me that they didn’t force me to be a teenage bride and that they objected to the divorce to help my kids. I didn’t understand them. I felt alone.
As a divorced woman in Saudi Arabia, I faced many challenges. Saudi Arabia is the only [End Page 53]
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country that requires women to have a legal male guardian. I cannot attend university, travel abroad, or open a bank account without the approval of my guardian. Not only do Saudi women confront constraints like these, but we must also observe social taboos around our clothing and public behavior.
Out of this experience came my project, Saudi Love Stories. I started photographing weddings in 2012, but as I shot more and more of these events I wondered what happened to love and marriage next. I began interviewing women and sharing (with their permission) a few of their moving vignettes. It’s been inspiring to listen to such a cross section of empowered Saudi women. They find many ways to overcome obstacles, sometimes with humor. [End Page 55] For many women, experiencing heartbreak was most difficult; for others, it was being deprived after a divorce of the right to raise their children. I even met a...