I see them dragging her again, in the dark alleys of Alexandria,
with the cheering crowd in a mixed of melancholia and revenge, grabbing her, stripping
her of her clothes, but never getting to her unadulterated soul in a scene that comes naturally in classic
Shakespearian ends. I see this beautiful, pure and revolutionary, the Hellenistic
philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria is alive.
Today, her granddaughters (although many of them now value her
murderer`s values more than what she stood for) have been facing the same hate,
prejudice and violence, Hypatia once faced bravely alone.
Almost every girl, woman (even female cat) that ever swept the
streets of Egypt, rode its transportation, or ever breathe the air of its
polluted skies, had experienced some form of physical, verbal, psychological
sexual harassment.
The harassment is an ever-lasting chronically problem in Egypt,
however the rate had spiked reaching epidemic proportions lately, with savagely
and severity of incidents taking the shape in many times as a mob-like attacks.
What is even worse about it, is both government and society turning blind eye
to it, making it even acceptable, inevitable and allowed to be that worse.
Sometimes, I think women in Egypt are very brave to be able to
still hit the road everyday and they know that spying eyes and dirty words are
at every corner, all age groups are condemned, and all classes, men tightening
more and more the grip leaving no room to breathe, so times it is even hard to
stop and bend to tie your shoe`s ropes as people might attack you on bending
and doing so, making it a daily struggle only topped, if not by bread lines that
stages Egypt`s streets.
Although there is no reliable, clear-cut statistics of number of
sexually assaulted women in Egypt, which is due to many factors mainly that
most women are either too ashamed of reporting these incidents, or pushed by their
families to hide these incidents due to humiliation that will be caused to the
family (with the culture of blaming women for everything, and on the wrong side
whatever that is), however all numbers indicates its a ‘disaster’ by all means.
According to the latest demographic study, issued by the
Egyptian Information and Decision Support in 2011 Center, stated that 44 per
cent of the females in the country are subjected to sexual harassment, and in
another 2008
survey, the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights surveyed 2,000 Egyptian men
and women and 109 foreign women in four governorates in the country, including
Cairo and Giza, about eighty-three percent of Egyptian women reported
experiencing sexual harassment on the street at least once and nearly half of
the women said they experience it daily. Ninety-eight percent of the foreign
women surveyed reported experiencing sexual harassment while in Egypt. Wearing
a veil did not appear to lessen a woman’s chances of being harassed.
Honestly, I'm not surprised. About 62 percent of Egyptian men
admitted to perpetrating harassment, Egyptian men view women as objects, sex
objects made to serve in house and bed! Women in Egypt, and I dare to say the
Arab and Islamic countries enjoys extremely low rights, mostly considered as
second-class citizens, with no rights and obligations to fulfil. According to
Egyptian mainstream Islam, Muslim women should helplessly stay at houses, obey
husband`s orders, doing housework with no participation in both public and
political rights, with now voice.
Other nonsense men excuses that includes the dress of women in
Egypt attracts for them these harasses, which is very untrue since most
Egyptian women are modestly if not called very conservative in their outfit,
and statistics showed no difference in harassment rates between and unveiled
women, also even Niqabi women (with full-face veil) are targeted, other stupid excuse
include the high price of marriage, revealing
dress of superstars on TV that arouse them
In an article
I did two years ago, I interviewed male harasser who confirmed to me proudly
that they harass these women as they are ‘indecent’ women, “a woman should stay
at home, and if she goes out that means she is a whore and deserve that/ or
even ask for that”
Just few days back, in the second anniversary of Egypt`s January
revolution, a date for toppling regimes, now groping breasts. More than 19
cases where reported on that day of 25 Jan 2013, where even more violence was
used, where now weapons like knifes and sticks are used in such cases where
mobs of tens, if not hundreds, of men come together in a extraordinary
solidarity to rape these women.
Here is one of the testimony that appeared was reported by “Operation
Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault (OpAntiSH)” is an initiative by a number of
Egyptian human rights organizations and individuals set up to combat sexual formed
November 2012
She describes what happened: “I ran inside the circle of men to try to save
her; the men let me through. Once I was in the middle of the circle, I realized
that the person being attacked was my colleague and that the reported attack
was a ruse to get us to the scene to intimidate and assault us… Suddenly hands
were on my breasts, inside my bra, and squeezing my nipples… I was trying to
defend myself and heard my colleague screaming. Her chest was bare and they cut
her bra down the middle… In the middle of this, they were insulting us and
calling us whores who were asking for this by squeezing ourselves in the middle
of men… At some point I could feel 15 hands on me… Someone grabbed me by my
clothes and was dragging me on the ground… Another guy put his hand down my
trousers.”
The incident took place in Tahrir Square at about 8:30pm
on 23 November 2012, during protests against President’s Mohamed Morsi’s
Constitutional Declaration.
The horrible recount of the testimonials of these attacks, shows
the severity of the problem, and the lame response of authority, making it as guilty
as the harassers, is typical and reflects a culture of denial, and the state of
indifference (that is dominated) in all issues.
Different explanations and analysis given by activists involved
in addressing the increasing phenomenon of harassment in protests: a culture of
denial when it comes to violence against women; with criminal elements and
slums people filling the political scenes in times of protests, and the current
climate of political instability; given them golden opportunity to harass and
rape women amid chaos and disappearance of state and authority.
Although authorities announced a new sexual-harassment law in
October, but never implemented it. It does not seem to have been a priority for
the authorities. Instead, a new constitution passed in December refers to
women’s role as homemakers, and does not explicitly ban discrimination against
them.
I can`t imagine that women in Egypt until late 1970s, it feels as it is a distant dream now, that women were
predominately unveiled. They wore modern clothes that with mini-skirts, short
sleeves and went to the beach and swam in the sea wearing swimsuits that showed
off their legs. And despite all this, there was never any harassment. Before we
went to Bedouins and got their ideologies and adopt the Wahabi interpretations of
religion and customs.
