Chapter 14: Arguments

The new Ambassador let it be known that she wished to meet the Emir in a more formal setting, to discuss some concerns about Kobekistan which worried the Government of the United States. An appointment was made, but the Emir seemed to know in advance what she intended to say. Suddenly, in his presence, her finely tuned unanswerable arguments seemed somehow weakened.

The Emir started the conversation by asking, "Is it about the eunuchs, or about the women, or about the other indentured servants that you wish to lecture me?"

Sharon was slightly put out. The human rights of eunuchs had not occurred to her as being a problem.

"Your Magnificence, I wished to raise the question of the human rights especially in respect of women who are indentured to be sex slaves in this country."

The Emir interrupted her to ask, "Should I take notes? Will there be a test tomorrow on how much I have remembered?"

Sharon ignored this as being the kind of ridicule undergraduates indulge in in an attempt to push the Professor off track.

She began again, "Women have been emancipated almost all over the world. They have equal rights in such matters as voting, education, freedom, healthcare, money, and so forth..."

The lecture continued for some fifteen minutes, giving examples and historical facts about these various facets of life, mostly in the USA and wholly in the Western world.

When she had finished the Emir said, "Right at the beginning you talked of voting, well we don't do that here. This country is not blessed with a class of people who do nothing productive in the economy, and concern themselves only with controlling what others do, funded by those others; I believe the word is politicians. We certainly lack those people, and we do not feel a need for their services. Education is available free of charge to all who wish to avail themselves of it. There is no charge levied at any point up to and including the University of Kobek's postgraduate courses. Similarly with healthcare, it is universally available and free."

Sharon replied spiritedly, "That may be true in theory, but it is not really true in practice for the female population."

"I have listened patiently to your lecture, but I cannot spare you much more time," he said, noting her blush, "Perhaps you would care to discuss the rights and privileges of women in this country more closely with some people who understand the position?"

Sharon looked at him quizzically.

"I assume you do, but first I will explain what I would call slavery," he said, "What I call slavery is working, day in and day out, at an uncongenial job you hate, because if you lose it you won't be able to pay the mortgage or afford healthcare, and unless you can find another job very quickly, you will lose your house, goods, family, and status, not necessarily in that order. Even in the West the term used is 'wage slave'. People such as you and I used to be, in the academic life, enjoyed what we did, but how many unskilled and semi-skilled workers do you honestly think could truthfully claim to enjoy their work? Surely the pleasure in working is gained from exercising a skill of which you are proud? My present job is not one I enjoy particularly, though some of the trappings are pleasant, but I think I would not have missed anything significant if I had remained a mathematician at Oxford."

He let her ponder this for a moment, and she could think of no rebuttal.

"Now come with me," he said and walked swiftly out of the room.

Running, Sharon managed to keep up with him as they rushed down a light and airy corridor, with a translucent glass roof, and with the walls decorated with typically Middle Eastern mosaics of geometric patterns.

The anteroom was long and narrow room with doors at both ends and no windows. It, too, was lit by a glass roof which was frosted to prevent the sun from being too strong and, in recent years, to prevent passengers and pilots of helicopters from looking in. There was a small dais with a large chair, or small throne on it and several other chairs round the walls. In the centre of the floor was another dais which was about three feet square and had no chair on it. The walls were decorated with what Western eyes nowadays would class as mildly pornographic bedroom scenes, depicting couples in various forms of sexual congress, some more possible than others. They were undoubtedly considered daring at the time they were made, since they dated from the late twelfth century by the Kobekistani calendar, which was the early nineteenth century in the Common Era.

Beyond the anteroom, through the door at the far end, which was discreetly guarded by armed eunuchs, was another room. This had a much higher dais at the outer end bearing another small throne and a large chaise-longue which were the only recognisable furnishings; it was about twenty-five feet square, again with no windows, and in the centre of the room a curious contraption rather like a gymnasium pommel horse without the handles, but with rings set into the woodwork in some odd places. Once again there were scenes of love-making on the walls. These were much more explicit and lurid than the ones in the anteroom, including some rather violent ones where women were being spanked or whipped by the man. The Ambassador soon realised that the contraption in the middle of the floor was a whipping bench when she saw its use depicted on a number of the mural panels.

Beyond this room again was the open area of the harem with its two oval pools, its many cushions, and on the right four small bedrooms, the domain of the wives. On the left hand wall were a series of small cubicles with beds in them for the rest of the more cherished concubines. Women out of favour, children and servants slept on an upper floor in a large dormitory, a very luxurious dormitory to be sure, but still a single communal sleeping area.

As the two of them swept into the harem proper, all the people, women and eunuchs, fell to the floor in obeisance as though they were puppets whose strings had suddenly been cut.

"Up," said the Emir, and beckoned to an older white woman wearing a only short green silk gown which barely reached mid thigh and which was not fastened below the button at the collar. The undercurves of her breasts and her shaven pubic area were clearly visible to Sharon, as were those of all the other women.

"Mr. Ambassador, may I present the Princess Ayda, one of my wives. Ayda, may I present the Ambassador of the United States, Professor Sharon Klein. She is curious about harem life, and is advocating an end to it and our adoption of an American way of life, including monogamy and economic independence for women. Please tell her and show her everything she wants, everything."

To Sharon he said, "Ayda was formerly Mrs. the Honourable Diana Featherstone, née the Honourable Diana Sturgess, and lived in England for the first part of her life, until she came here when she was ... well I won't say how old, but she already had a sixteen year old daughter."

Ayda eased Sharon's evident embarrassment by saying, "I was thirty-six when I first met my husband, so I really do know about Western life and can compare it with the harem. Shall we go and sit over here and have some coffee?"

As they sat down, Sharon noticed that several of the younger women, all attired in the same highly revealing way, were gathering round the Emir as unobtrusively as they could while still trying to catch his eye.

"So you have come to convert our little country to your American way of life, have you?" said Ayda.

"Yes, your Royal Highness."

"Just call me Ayda, unless you want me to call you Madam Ambassador, and to answer only in 'on the record' statements."

"Thank you. I can't promise that what you say will not be reported back to my superiors, but I can say it came from, quote, someone in the harem, unquote, if you prefer," offered Sharon.

Ayda's peal of laughter caused heads to turn.

"What possible damage could being quoted verbatim in the USA, or anywhere else, possibly do to the senior wife of the ruler of this land?" she asked, "Be honest with yourself, my husband does not care a fig what public opinion says, still less what client countries who depend on us for oil think of our internal policies. Now, what do you want to know?"

"Pardon my ignorance," said Sharon, "but I have been wondering, what does 'The Honourable' actually mean?"

"Nothing really," said Ayda, "but daddy is the Earl of Bargoed, so as a younger daughter I am automatically 'The Honourable'. Of course we were poor as church mice, but the title did help with some things."

The coffee arrived and was handed to them carefully by a young girl who was clearly very nervous.

'She's new at this job, ' thought Sharon, 'I wonder how old she is? She looks about twelve.'

"She looks nervous?" she asked the Princess.

"Yes. She's new and hasn't served me before. I've only seen her clearing away used crockery. Now what else do you want to know? I'm sure there was a purpose behind this visit beyond English minor titles and nervous waitresses?"

"I have just been expressing my government's concerns about the lack of freedom and human rights, especially for women, and particularly indentured women such as that little girl," replied the visitor.

Ayda considered her response before replying, "For a woman in a harem, and that is well over ninety percent of the women in this country, life is very circumscribed. Essentially she does only what her husband or master requires her to do. Yet within the harem there is a delightful freedom; freedom from want, freedom from cares, freedom from decisions, freedom to do nothing without orders."

"But what about freedom of choice? Travel? Entertainment? Socialising?"

"Freedom of choice is largely illusory for you. If you want to take tomorrow off work and just play the piano all day, can you do that? And can you do that virtually every day?"

"Well, one day, yes, except I can't play a piano. Of course not every day; I have a job to do."

"Exactly my point," said Ayda, "You are as circumscribed in your choices as I am. The restrictions are just different in their application."