'Working With Women Will Arouse You!' Saudi Social Media Star Criticizes Mixed Gender Workplaces

Saudi Snapchat personality Mansour Alrokibah criticized mixed gender workplaces in a viral video, stating that spending six hours a day, six days a week with women is bound to invoke sexual desire. 

Translation: "Mansour Alrokibah's full speech, no need to cut videos down."

Alrokibah advocated for segregation in the workplace to help women feel more comfortable and for both sexes to be more productive. 

"If you work alongside women for six hours a day and your eyes happen to fall upon them despite trying to lower your gaze and that doesn't arouse anything inside you, then my condolences," he says in the video. "I advise you to consult a psychiatrist or a urologist.”

Alrokibah's message comes in response to changes by Saudi authorities in recent years to relax women's labor regulations and segregation laws. On the same day the video went viral, Saudi announced it would be scrapping separate gender entrances and dining sections at restaurants. 

"I can accept sitting next to a woman in a cafe for half an hour and women can tolerate sitting in a restaurant for an hour nearby men but a full workday?" he said. 

He went on to suggest that mixed-gender work environments go against the interests of businesses that value maximum productivity.

Online critics of Alrokibah tweeted under the hashtag #يامنصور_تعالج (Get Treatment Mansour). 

Translation: "When you show up at a company and find out Alrokibah is an employee." 

But there were also many others who spoke out to defend him and even shared his point of view on women and men in the workplace.

Translation: "How is he supposed to get treatment when he's the doctor who identified the wound, thank you Mansour Alrokibah. And don't pay attention to the sick trolls."

Some suggested that Alrokibah's message was merely a reflection of mass public opinion. 

Translation: "Mansour is only a messenger who represents the majority of society and we need hundreds of years to defeat these deep-rooted ideas."