Post: #1

Egypt's sexual harassment of women 'epidemic'

Some Egyptian women are now scared to appear alone or even with female friends in public places

Campaigners in Egypt say the problem of sexual harassment is reaching epidemic proportions, with a rise in such incidents over the past three months. For many Egyptian women, sexual harassment - which sometimes turns into violent mob-style attacks - is a daily fact of life, reports the BBC's Bethany Bell in Cairo.

Last winter, an Egyptian woman was assaulted by a crowd of men in the city of Alexandria.

In video footage of the incident, posted on the internet, she is hauled over men's shoulders and dragged along the ground, her screams barely audible over the shouts of the mob.

It is hard to tell who is attacking her and who is trying to help.

The case was one of the most extreme - but surveys say many Egyptian women face some form of sexual harassment every day.

Marwa, not her real name, says she worries about being groped or verbally harassed whenever she goes downtown. She says it makes her afraid.

"This is something that scares me, as a girl. When I want to go out, walking the street and someone harasses or annoys me, it makes me afraid.

"This stops me from going out. I try to be excessively cautious in the way I dress so I avoid wearing things that attract people."

'Deeply rooted'

The day I met Marwa, she was wearing a long headscarf pinned like a wimple under her chin, and a loose flowing dress with long sleeves over baggy trousers.

But dressing conservatively is no longer a protection, according to Dina Farid of the campaign group Egypt's Girls are a Red Line.

She says even women who wear the full-face veil - the niqab - are being targeted.

"It does not make a difference at all. Most of Egyptian ladies are veiled [with a headscarf] and most of them have experienced sexual harassment.

"Statistics say that most of the women or girls who have been sexually harassed have been veiled or completely covered up with the niqab."


Harassers are getting younger, campaigners say
In 2008, a study by the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights found that more than 80% of Egyptian women have experienced sexual harassment, and that the majority of the victims were those who wore Islamic headscarves.

Said Sadek, a sociologist from the American University in Cairo, says that the problem is deeply rooted in Egyptian society: a mixture of what he calls increasing Islamic conservatism, on the rise since the late 1960s, and old patriarchal attitudes.

"Religious fundamentalism arose, and they began to target women. They want women to go back to the home and not work.

"Male patriarchal culture does not accept that women are higher than men, because some women had education and got to work, and some men lagged behind and so one way to equalise status is to shock women and force a sexual situation on them anywhere.

"It is not the culture of the Pharaohs; it is the culture of the Bedouins," Mr Sadek says.

Mr Sadek and women's campaign groups also blame what they call the lack of security enforcement. They say the police should do more to enforce laws protecting women from harassment.

'Provocative dress'

And the harassers are getting younger and younger.

"If the girls were dressed respectably, no-one would touch them. It's the way girls dress that makes guys come on to them” - Male Cairo teenager

On the Qasr al-Nil bridge in central Cairo, a hotspot for harassment, I met a group of teenage boys hanging out near street stalls blaring loud music.

When I asked them about a recent case of mass harassment in which women at a park were groped by a gang of boys, they told me the girls brought it on themselves.

"If the girls were dressed respectably, no-one would touch them," one of them said. "It's the way girls dress that makes guys come on to them. The girls came wanting it - even women in niqab."

One of his friends told me the boys were not to blame, and that there was a difference between women who wore loose niqabs and tight ones.

A woman who wore a tight niqab was up for it, he added.

But attitudes like these horrify many Egyptian men - like Hamdy, a human rights activist.

"I really feel very upset myself because I think about my family, my sisters and my mother," he said.

"Before Eid [the festival at the end of Ramadan], I was downtown and I had my sisters with me. It gets very crowded and I had my eyes everywhere, looking around and I shouted at a pedlar who got in their way. In our religion this is something that is not allowed."

The new government says it is taking the problem seriously - although many campaigners argue it is not a priority yet.

For women - like Nancy, who lives in central Cairo - it is a question of freedom.

"I want to walk safely and like a human being. Nobody should touch or harass me - that's it."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19440656

Post: #2

Watch it, man.

There is a big difference between running game, either direct or indirect, and harassment or rape.

Post: #3

It is not daygame.I have seen what Arabs do on streets of Athens and it is horrible.They whistle to every woman passing by and make kissing movements on the air.If the woman passes close they grab their butt.Every uncovered woman is for them a target and deserves this treatment.
Obviously it all comes from the extreme sexual repression these guys live.Women have to stay virgins till marriage and some guys can get 4 of them as wives while the rest does not get anyone.This leaves them horny and helpless all the time and the result is gross creepiness in western women eyes.

Post: #4

If she likes you, you swept her off her feet.

If she doesn't like you, you're a harassing pervert or sex tourist.

Post: #5

Guys this isn't daygame, this is the Gunwitch Method.

Post: #6

If it is as bad as the article leads us to believe, I feel bad for the girls. Cat calls is one thing, but people groping women on the street is grimy. However, it does crack me up that they ask the opinion of "a group of teenage boys hanging out near street stalls blaring loud music." and expect to NOT get a stupid answer lol.

Post: #7

(09-03-2012 04:56 PM)basilransom Wrote:  Guys this isn't daygame, this is the Gunwitch Method.

I thought the Gunwitch Method was to shoot your meth dealer?

I actually have The Way Of The Gun audiobook and like it.

Post: #8

(09-03-2012 04:37 PM)Greek kamaki Wrote:  It is not daygame.I have seen what Arabs do on streets of Athens and it is horrible.They whistle to every woman passing by and make kissing movements on the air.If the woman passes close they grab their butt.Every uncovered woman is for them a target and deserves this treatment.
Obviously it all comes from the extreme sexual repression these guys live.Women have to stay virgins till marriage and some guys can get 4 of them as wives while the rest does not get anyone.This leaves them horny and helpless all the time and the result is gross creepiness in western women eyes.

I thought Egyptian girls got married at 18 and guys at 20. Or is that true not anymore?

Post: #9

(09-03-2012 06:56 PM)Juan Antonio Wrote:  

(09-03-2012 04:37 PM)Greek kamaki Wrote:  It is not daygame.I have seen what Arabs do on streets of Athens and it is horrible.They whistle to every woman passing by and make kissing movements on the air.If the woman passes close they grab their butt.Every uncovered woman is for them a target and deserves this treatment.
Obviously it all comes from the extreme sexual repression these guys live.Women have to stay virgins till marriage and some guys can get 4 of them as wives while the rest does not get anyone.This leaves them horny and helpless all the time and the result is gross creepiness in western women eyes.

I thought Egyptian girls got married at 18 and guys at 20. Or is that true not anymore?

It's not so much age than wealth that prevents them from getting married at all.

Post: #10

Also all this whistling and kissing in the air is serious chockablock.Imagine being ready to talk to a girl and some random guy starting whistling or shouting "you drive me mad baby.What an ass." or making noise with his bike to get attention of the girl and then say:Hey doll, are you in for a ride?Muts,muts(kisses)."All these scare women who run away avoiding you as well.Do you want to cockblock a guy?Just whistle,make noise,burp or fart next to him and you will be effective(this is also what Greek guys do).

Post: #11

This type of behavior is the exhaust of a societal order that is so sexually repressive and poor. If you guys think that you have it bad in America, the plight of the third world male is even worse. Families won't marry their daughters off to these guys because they've got no money, they can't afford to fuck prostitutes (and it's not common in Islamic societies anyway), and a lot of these dudes probably don't even have access to internet porn.

Post: #12

That is why so many guys become gays in Islamic countries.You go out here where Arabs live and you see only men.Where are all the women?Kept in a state of horniness these guys are easy manipulated by mullahs etc.

Post: #13

You see men out in the streets in Arab neighborhoods because their communities practice traditional gender roles. Women are tasked with raising children/taking care of the house and the men are out working.

There is also the assumption that if an Arab woman is roving outside alone that she's suspect to sexual promiscuity which will lead to gossip and alienation from the community on her part. It runs deeper than the mere fact that the Arabs aren't marrying and having sex with each other. They are.