PDA Crackdown in Dubai

An article in the Economist highlights a recent “commission chaired by the crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum, [which] has proposed a code of public conduct to tighten strictures on dress, drinking, dancing and public displays of affection, such as kissing.” The emirate is trying to carefully balance its traditional values with its 1 million plus foreign residents and scores of tourists.

“Even if the proposed rules are enforced, confining dancers to enclosed places, drinkers to designated bars, swimsuit-wearers to beaches and would-be hand-holders to their legitimate spouses, Dubai will still look ragingly liberal compared with its neighbours.”