Public beach = Never again

So my friends and their family invited me out to a barbecue on the public beach somewhere behind Emirates Palace today. Never one to say no to a day by the sea and good food, I was of course in.

Shame on me, but I haven't been to a public beach in Abu Dhabi in lightyears. I now remember why.

It got a little warm, so my friend, her cousin and I ventured out to the wavy waters. The more we approached the water, the more violated we felt. By the time we were in, I wanted to hide under a rock far, far away in the ocean.

All violating eyes were on us, guys started making dumb and lewd comments like they'd never seen a girl in a swimming suit before. Except the beach was full of people, expats and non-expats, all in various degrees of revealing beach attire. I guess because we understand Arabic, the way we were being oggled at and the things that came out of these people's mouths really ticked us off.

I swear, we didn't even want to get out of the water anymore and walk back to our spot. But unless we wanted to to stay in the waters until nightfall when everyone would leave, we had to make a move. By the time I was safely wrapped in my towel again, I just wanted to hit everyone in sight.

I was telling my friend that they need cops to patrol the area, as a lot of cars also just pass by aimlessly to scope out the meat. But she said something rather interesting, that we probably shouldn't be hanging out in our bikinis on a public beach anyway.

I kinda see her point, but I don't think it's forbidden, is it? I do wonder whether the cops would side with us or them though, that's how little faith I have in things changing around here.

I've been in AD a very long time, and you'd think I'd get used to being visually violated, but I don't think I ever will. My friend and I quickly left the public beach after lunch, and I came home in a really shitty mood.