Saudi women gain the right to drive – in a videogame

Saudi Arabian women have finally gained the right to drive – at least virtually.

In what appears to be an act of straight-up trolling his own family, a Saudi prince is creating a videogame called “Saudi Girls Revolution,” that features young Saudi women racing motorcycles, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud is the grandson of the brother of the current king, who presides over the only country where women can’t get behind the wheel of a car.

“If we can tell people stories about women driving, maybe they will, maybe it will actually happen,” he told the Journal.

The game will feature a group of futuristic young women battling corrupt leaders after a world war leaves Earth stripped of natural resources and most of its population. The Journal reports that several of the women fight against religious sectarianism. One is gay.

It’s not quite as direct as setting the game in modern-day Saudi Arabia, but it’s also not exactly subtle. The prince told the Journal he hopes the game “will inspire women to see themselves in roles that are equal to men.”

Unlike some of his Saudi relatives, the prince has lived in places where women drive and is apparently aware that the world doesn’t implode when they hit the gas pedal. (A Saudi cleric recently said that women who drive have children with clinical problems because driving “automatically affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upwards.” Yes really.)

Currently living in London, the prince attended Stanford University and even worked for Facebook before becoming the founder and head of NA3M, the company creating “Saudi Girls Revolution.” The game is set to be released later this year.

And while he didn’t explicitly say that he thinks the driving ban is terrible, the prince said that one of his goals with the videogame is to give Saudi Arabians the chance “to be comfortable and…used to these types of visuals.”

He hopes, he said, that everyone with a phone will play – including the royal family.

Emily DeRuy is a Washington, D.C.-based associate editor, covering education, reproductive rights, and inequality. A San Francisco native, she enjoys Giants baseball and misses Philz terribly.