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Saudi Arabia's women drivers
沙特女司机
Ovarian issue
卵巢问题？
Will Saudi women ever be allowed behind the wheel of a car?
沙特的女性能获得开车权吗？
WHEN a group of Saudi women first took to the kingdom's roads to flout its ban on female drivers, they publicised their protest by fax and videocassette. The 47 participants suffered fines, travel bans, social ostracism and, in some cases, the loss of government jobs. The ban itself, 23 years and many protests later, remains. But much else has changed.
当第一次一群沙特女同志占据王国之路来嘲笑禁止女性司机这一法令时，她们通过传真和录音机来将她们的抗议公之于众。那47位参与者遭到罚款、旅行禁令、社会排斥异己在某些情况下，失去了政府部门工作。这条法令，在历经23年并遭到无数次反抗之后，如今仍然保留着。但是很多东西早已改变。
The campaigners behind a drive-along protest scheduled for October 26th have put it on Twitter, Facebook and a slick website. Their petition demanding that the government issue driving licences to women has gathered close to 17,000 signatures. A call for women to upload videos of themselves driving has already gathered dozens of clips. The footage of headscarved ladies navigating suburban traffic may scarcely be thrilling, but some have scored over 100,000 web viewings.
策划10月26日单独驾驶抗议的活动者们已经将这一禁令发布到推特，脸谱以及一个热门网站上。她们要求政府发给女性驾照的请愿书上集齐了1.7万人的签名；号召女性上传自己驾驶的视频也被点击了无数次，一个戴头巾妇女通过郊区交通的脚本也许不会让人兴奋，但一些已经拥有超过1万的浏览量。
For the first time, too, women have allies in government. Earlier this year King Abdullah named 30 female members to the previously all-male Shura Council, the royally-appointed proto-parliament. Three of the new women in it have voiced open support for an end to the driving ban.
女性在政府拥有同盟者这也是第一次。今年早些时日，Abdullah国王指定30位女性参加了以前全是男性成员的舒拉国会，该国会是皇家指定的第一国会。其中三个新的女性成员公开表示支持停止驾驶禁令。
But the campaign's opponents have changed tactics, too. Official monitors have blocked its website. Tweeters in favour of the ban, derided by campaigners in the kingdom as “eggs” for leaving blank the oval space for their own portrait that the messaging service provides, are putting out reams of negative comment. Some have sought to dampen support for women wanting to drive by spreading false rumours of an imminent government move to lift the ban.
但是活动者的对手们也改变了战术。政府监控人员已经封锁了网站。支持此项禁令的推特用户发布了大量的负面评论。他们曾被抗议者们嘲讽为鸡蛋，为了自己存储转发业务提供的肖像画留下椭圆空白。有些人就在探索着通过散播假的谣言譬如政府在迫切的推行禁令等，去抑制那些支持女性驾车的说法。
More traditional foes of change have also been active. On October 23rd a group of 200-odd clerics gathered outside the royal court to denounce what they described as a “conspiracy” to put women behind the wheel. Last month Sheikh Salah al-Luhaydan, a well-known cleric who also practises psychology, claimed on a popular Saudi website that it has been scientifically proved that driving “affects the ovaries” and leads to clinical disorders in the children of women who are foolish enough to drive.
更传统一些的变革对手也很活跃。10月23日，一组人数为200的牧师人员聚集在王朝外，指责他们所谓的支持女性驾驶的同谋。一位知名的牧师Sheikh Salah al-Luhaydan，他同样也实践心理学，上个月，他在沙特一个很流行网站上声称，已经被科学证明的是：驾驶“影响卵巢”并导致那些愚蠢的驾驶女人们的孩子临床障碍。译者 叶荣芳
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