# Muammar Gaddafi's female bodyguards **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812 "2010-03-01T03:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/1 "2010-03-01T03:04:52Z")
Do they sleep with him or not? One the one hand an all-female corp of bodyguards is [del]unusual[/del] like something out of fiction. Are they his harem, some bizarre whim of Gaddafi’s or a weird publicity stunt? On the other hand Gaddafi badly needs effective bodyguards- **loyal** bodyguards. Beautiful bimbos are not going to keep him from getting gunned down, and officially they’re supposed to be virgins. So just what dynamic is going on here? Sex, unfullfilled sexual tension, or a professional role otherwise rare for women in an Arabic country? Why does Gaddafi consider them more trustworthy than male guards? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/2 "2010-03-01T03:30:02Z")
Go to NYC this Friday and [ask the woman who made the movie about them](http://memeac.gc.cuny.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:shadows-of-a-leader-qaddafis-female-bodyguards-q-a-a-with-filmmaker-rania-ajam&catid=51:upcoming-events&Itemid=83). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/3 "2010-03-01T05:20:14Z")
As I understand it, it’s mostly an image thing, he’s not reliably rumoured to be sleeping with all of them. Maybe he’s a _God Emperor of Dune_ fan? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/4 "2010-03-01T05:23:03Z")
Moving to General Questions from Great Debates to see if the OP can some factual answers here. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/5 "2010-03-01T07:29:05Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > As I understand it, it’s mostly an image thing, he’s not reliably rumoured to be sleeping with all of them. > > Maybe he’s a _God Emperor of Dune_ fan? Why would that not surprise me? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/6 "2010-03-01T15:43:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > As I understand it, it’s mostly an image thing, he’s not reliably rumoured to be sleeping with all of them. > > Maybe he’s a _God Emperor of Dune_ fan? But is he sleeping with _some_ of them? 😃 (Please… feed my fantasties of being a powerful ruler surrounded by my dozens of devoted, sexy bodyguards willing to cater to my every petulant whim.) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/7 "2010-03-01T16:11:31Z")
The revolution in Libya had a pretty strong feminist bent, and one of Gaddafi’s projects has been to try and get woman serving in the military to try and integrate them in society and combat the more traditional Islamic and Bedouin views of females that were previously prevalent in the country. Having a highly visable all-female force in charge of his personal safety is part of that effort. The fact that it’s just one more thing that makes him come across like a Bond villian is presumably an unintended side effect. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/8 "2010-03-02T01:24:27Z")
> [@](#): > > The fact that it’s just one more thing that makes him come across like a Bond villian is presumably an unintended side effect. It was that or live inside a volcano. And people just don’t appreciate the effort it takes to build an island lair in the middle of the desert. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/9 "2010-03-02T17:58:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It was that or live inside a volcano. And people just don’t appreciate the effort it takes to build an island lair in the middle of the desert. Especially when you ALSO insist on living in a tent. Lava and canvas don’t mix well. 🙂 I don’t have a GQ answer to the original question, but I think a lot of what he does is simply for attention. It’s hard for a foreign leader to both make headlines in the US and avoid being bombed. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/10 "2011-12-21T02:38:59Z")
Zombie thread revived to ask: so where were Gaddafi’s bodyguards when he was overthrown and killed? What’s happened to them? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/11 "2011-12-21T02:50:43Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > … > > (Please… feed my fantasties of being a powerful ruler surrounded by my dozens of devoted, sexy bodyguards willing to cater to my every petulant whim.) Ask your wife or girlfriend, or if you come up empty on those, my advice is to keep away from GQers. Then it could get weird… ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/12 "2011-12-21T02:51:01Z")
Good question. What I’m wondering is: With Kim Jung Il and Muammar Khadaffi now dead, are there any James-Bond-villain-type heads of state left on earth? Or are they all boring old men and women? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/13 "2011-12-21T02:59:42Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Zombie thread revived to ask: so where were Gaddafi’s bodyguards when he was overthrown and killed? What’s happened to them? It’s hard to hide inconspicuously while traveling with a troupe of amazonian assassin bodyguards 😉 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/14 "2011-12-21T04:44:49Z")
If the weaponized women are serious about choosing the bodyguard lifestyle I kind of doubt they are bringing the sexy. I also wouldn’t be betting any sizeable sums that they are particularly or exclusively interested in men. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/15 "2011-12-21T06:18:10Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Zombie thread revived to ask: so where were Gaddafi’s bodyguards when he was overthrown and killed? Probably at the salon getting mani/pedis. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/16 "2011-12-21T06:26:35Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > Good question. What I’m wondering is: With Kim Jung Il and Muammar Khadaffi now dead, are there any James-Bond-villain-type heads of state left on earth? Or are they all boring old men and women? You’ve got Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Yahya Jammeh in Gambia. They’re both pretty crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/17 "2011-12-21T06:52:35Z")
Of course, The Great Successer. Although I don’t think he’s hit puberty yet. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/18 "2011-12-21T07:13:36Z")
I forget my internet sources, but I remember reading (post-Ghadaffi) one interview with a former Ukranian bodyguard-nurse who said it was all platonic. Then I read another account in which a woman talked of sexual abuse, but I think she was not a bodyguard and may have been one of those random Oday Hussain type street kidnappings for Ghadaffi. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/19 "2011-12-21T08:39:13Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > I forget my internet sources, but I remember reading (post-Ghadaffi) one interview with a former Ukranian bodyguard-nurse who said it was all platonic. Then I read another account in which a woman talked of sexual abuse, but I think she was not a bodyguard and may have been one of those random Oday Hussain type street kidnappings for Ghadaffi. I have to say that I have heard little about Gadaffi being errrr a sexual athlete like your hear with others. Not saying he was not, just saying that it was not really broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812/20 "2011-12-21T10:16:21Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > Then I read another account in which a woman talked of sexual abuse, but I think she was not a bodyguard and may have been one of those random Oday Hussain type street kidnappings for Ghadaffi. If it was the same case I heard about, she wasn’t a bodyguard, but on the other hand, the actual bodyguards were the ones in charge of preparing her (for instance teaching her how to dance, providing sexy lingerie, etc…), telling her what she was supposed to do, watching over her, etc… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muammar-gaddafis-female-bodyguards/530812.md?page=2)