On Saturday July 5, following a typical day spent drinking and eating to excess at one of Dubai’s weekly Friday brunches, 36-year-old publishing manager Michelle Palmer was allegedly caught having sex with a visiting British businessman, Vince Acors (34), on a public beach. Not only that, she was reportedly cautioned once and ignored the warning, insulting and assaulting the police on their return.
Her behaviour has made headlines around the world. Most of the charges against her — indecent behaviour in public, being drunk in public and assaulting a police officer — are illegal, not only in the United Arab Emirates, but in the United Kingdom and much of the rest of the world. Yet it is the potential severity of the punishment facing Palmer and Acors — up to six years in prison — coupled with the fact that sex outside marriage is still illegal in the UAE, that has made front-page news.
”You are all as guilty as Michelle,” said one Dubai resident to the UAE’s leading local newspaper 7days. Like many of the UK’s tabloids it blames unruly British conduct for Palmer’s downfall. ”You all get drunk in public and you have all dabbled in sex before marriage at some point. The only difference between you and Michelle Palmer is that you haven’t been caught yet!” The following day another reader took a shot at Dubai authorities. ”It is a shame that these laws are not enforced more often in such obvious cases … Why should the residents here (and I mean expat as well as Emiratis), whether Muslim or not, have to endure the worst of ‘Western’ society?”
Like Palmer, I’ve lived in Dubai for more than three years, working for national newspapers. I have lived in the same privileged, Western expat bubble, frequented the same five-star hotels, bars and restaurants. I’ve even broken my share of laws in this Muslim country.
Despite the headlines, British residents do not get dragged to jail for kissing near-strangers. We don’t get arrested for holding hands in public. In fact, Western behaviour goes largely ”unseen” by the authorities in a country where the booming economy is reliant on expats. Western life in Dubai exists on an unspoken double standard: we can break the country’s laws, as long as we do so subtly.
The Friday brunch that Palmer enjoyed, for example, has been an institution among Middle East expats for years. On the holiest day of the Muslim week, five-star hotels entice customers with all-day feasts and unlimited alcohol from as little as $20.
”With all the ruckus surrounding Michelle Palmer, I thought about not coming to the brunch today,” says Kelly Fields, a 28-year-old editor from Manchester and Dubai resident of 18 months, who is dining at Yalumba a week after Palmer’s brunch there. ”But it was just too tempting with the 40° heat outside. And the deal is so ridiculously cheap.” At Yalumba, one of the city’s higher-end eateries, it is $114 a head to eat as much as possible, with unlimited champagne.
In such a transient scene, where the average Western expat stays for just three to five years, the boozy afternoons are an opportunity for social bonding. They also provide a welcome break for Western journalists, airline crew, recruitment consultants and hotel press officers. ”I worked 70 hours this week,” says Jake, an engineer from Hampshire. ”By Thursday I’m always mentally and physically drained. A few drinks help to blow off steam.” Life in Dubai isn’t all rooftop pools and company credit cards — most people work much harder than they would at home because they’re terrified of losing their jobs and the accompanying residency permits.
This is nothing new. For decades, expats have been lured to Dubai by senior job titles and benefit packages and found themselves without sufficient management or support. But with the UK’s current economic climate and rising property prices, more twenty- and thirtysomethings descend here every day, driven by two aims: to leap up the career ladder and save enough dirhams for a deposit-sized nest egg.
It is currently estimated that the number of British people in the UAE has nearly doubled since 2006 to 100 000. Most enter a social tier typically several rungs higher than at home, positioned above the many thousands of Indians and Filipinos in the low-waged service classes, who call them ”ma’am” and ”sir”. Couple this with the unofficial knowledge that they can get away with illegal acts and it’s easy to start feeling untouchable.
That Brits drink even more in a Muslim country than they would at home is not the only irony of life in Dubai. There’s also a thriving singles scene, in a place where sex outside marriage is officially forbidden. Palmer’s one-night stand with a stranger is standard weekend behaviour.
”Dubai is commonly known as ‘the graveyard of relationships’,” says Lauren Whittacker, a 29-year-old lawyer from Devo, who originally moved here with her fiancé. ”After a year we were finished. The pace of life here put too much pressure on our relationship and it caved in. The same has happened to so many couples I know. Now, meeting anyone who isn’t after something superficial is nigh-on impossible.” Dubai has become a playground for adults, with residents in their 30s and 40s drinking and clubbing every weekend like they’re 21 again.
Unmarried couples who do survive the transition must forge marriage certificates, wear rings and fake wedding photos to live together illegally. Even sharing with friends has its difficulties. ”I share an apartment with three female friends even though it’s supposed to be a ‘familyÂonly’ building,” explains Joanne Sigler, an advertising executive from London who has been living in the UAE for two years. ”We get round it by putting the rent contract in my company’s name, and then subletting it to my flatmates. Our watchman knows that’s what’s going on, even our real estate agent knew … but those are the boundaries within which we have to live in this Muslim country, so we can live in a decent location at a just about affordable price.”
It’s only when these boundaries are pushed that the law clamps down. Hot on the tail of Palmer’s arrest have come stricter rules about beachwear. Western women caught topless on public beaches will now be asked to leave, rather than merely told to cover up. This past weekend the ever-present police cars began to patrol the beaches much more vigilantly, on the look-out for any whiff of sexual behaviour.
But this is just the latest in a line of short-lived crackdowns. Days before Christmas a ban on outdoor music threatened to thwart New Year party plans at several of the city’s outdoor bars and clubs. This seemed to follow a December rooftop party that got out of control. ”It was really busy and the cheap open bar led to people getting seriously drunk. Before we knew it an influential local person had spotted a couple dancing provocatively outside,” says Martin Turner, the party’s host. Immediately afterwards, the ban was enforced, but it was lifted again days later, in time for the New Year festivities.
One ruling that seems to have been met with more uniformity is the UAE’s zero-tolerance drug policy. After a longer list of banned substances was issued at the end of last year, including codeine and Prozac, the minimum penalty handed down for drug possession is now said to be four years in prison.
”My boyfriend went away from Dubai on business,” says Madeline Peyton, a recreation manager who has been living in Dubai for a year. ”Then I heard some of his friends had been caught smoking marijuana and were likely to be sentenced to four years in prison. I knew he’d face the same if he came back, so I warned him not to. I had to pack up all his stuff and send it out of the country.”
That expats continue to arrive, and that so many of them stay here, is testimony to the appeal of life here. As Donald Trump recently cried at the launch of his upcoming skyscraper on the Palm Jumeirah, ”The world’s eyes are on Dubai!” And doesn’t Michelle Palmer know it. —