When women are exploited by men in the name of love

Saudi men who seek to win favors from their girlfriends in the Kingdom are known as “lambs.” They give expensive presents and spend lavishly on the girls and some girls exploit this and increase their demands on such men.
On the other hand, there are girls who allow themselves to be exploited by young men. They do not hesitate to spend any amount of money to satisfy the young males.
Recent studies show that the social networking sites have removed many barriers to relationships between men and women.
Sabah Zohar, an educational and family counselor at the Saudi German Hospital in Asir, said the reasons women are preyed upon include the naivete of women while men are prompted by their desires to better their economic conditions especially if they are unemployed.
Mahmoud Al-Rajeh, a family relations consultant, rejected this dangerous shift in values for the sake of material gains as the shift will lead to a loss of trust and credibility between men and women in addition to the disappearance of proper moral values and genuine love.
He stressed the need for spreading awareness to combat the phenomena. He fears that a woman looking for material gains will miss the warmth of love and the spirit of an honest and balanced relationship.
“Before we put the blame on women, we must ask the competent social authorities what the authorities have done to address such behavior,” he said.
Psychologist Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi said some women are driven to exploit men financially because of their desire for luxury items so that they can impress other women.
Attributing the phenomenon to the absence of proper family supervision, he called for seminars in secondary schools and universities to educate girls about this behavior, which looks simple and easy but in fact involves unimagined perils.
Suad Ali, 24, a victim of exploitation, said she passionately loved a young man five years her senior.
“I sacrificed everything for love. I bought him mobile phone cards because he said he did not have money to call me. He did not work and he demanded money for food and cigarettes. I also gave him presents worth SR300 every month besides spending on average SR2,000 monthly,” she said, adding that it took four years for her to realize that he did not love her and was just using her.
According to Salwa Al-Zahrani, the majority of men are not looking for a good woman to marry. “They go for women who are rich or employed so they can enjoy their money,” she said. “For instance, the first man I met always talked about his insufficient income which meant he was after my money."
Turkiyah Al-Amri, 22, who worked in a bank, said that over a number of years she spent more than SR100,000 on a young man. It was only after several years that she realized that his love for her was nothing but avarice and greed.