CAIRO: Bikya Masr has compiled some horrifying experiences from women in Egypt and what they face on a daily basis on the streets. We ask that if you have your own stories, please send them to us in order to publicize this growing problem in Egyptian society. I was walking home in Haram and a car pulled up next to me and started shouting horrible things at me. They tried to get me to come into the car, but I walked fast. Then, they drove the car to stop me from going forward, I fell and tripped on the sidewalk, cut up my leg. I ran away as fast as I could. I couldn’t tell my parents what happened because they would say it was my fault and I wouldn’t be allowed to go out. -Unnamed Egyptian college student I know my parents would not be happy to hear that a respectable-looking middle aged man in a nice car pulled up beside me on the street yesterday and repeatedly asked me if I’d liked to F***. I was wearing a full-length skirt, long sleeves, and a wedding ring, and this was in Maadi. In my 25 years in America and in all the many countries I’ve visited (including Middle Eastern ones) I have never been addressed so disrespectfully by a stranger. Three weeks in Cairo, and an Egyptian man wins the rudest-ever award. -Emily, foreign woman I live in New York and I feel safer walking alone at 3:00am, inebriated, than I do walking around here during the day, sober, and dressed in conservative clothing and with a head scarf. The problem here is there is no predictability. I don’t know if that guy making rude comments or leering at me is going to be more aggressive or not, and that’s not just limited to Egypt. It’s just that in Egypt, the number of men who do this increase exponentially and therefore the predictability decreases. -Soma I was walking to the metro and when I got there, someone grabbed my body, it was horrible. It happens all the time. I get grabbed on the street almost everyday and when I try to do something about it, they run and people tell me it’s my fault. When I get touched on my body it is disgusting and it makes me sick of my country. -Asma I dress conservatively in Cairo and I have been groped and grabbed and leered at and it is quite ridiculous. I am 59 years old and in spite of being told I am beautiful and that they want to marry me I can never forget that in my own country I’m invisible to men. I think the policies of Egypt don’t work for the young men of Egypt and as a result they don’t work for the women. Too many foriegn women in Egypt have told me they are tired of leaving their homes. There is a problem. I was constantly trying to be polite in the foreign country, don’t be polite, scream as loud as you can and slap them. If you take this quietly they don’t understand that you are offended. Leave no doubt in their minds. -Nicky I have a French neighbour and friend upstairs. She was sooooooo sick of being harassed that she decided to cover her hair (of course the rest of her clothing was covering her body too)… So imagine at what point this girl couldnt bear it anymore. AND 3 DAYS AFTER STARTING USING IT … some guy grabs her boob on the street and she thinks it could have been worst if it werent for the fact she started screaming and some guys came to her help! -Regina Just recently someone said “I wanna f***†as I was passing by with a girlfriend and just expected me to stay quiet. I was in a safe neighborhood, actually and tried to hit him with a cane I happened to be carrying, and when he took off running I yelled after him until he was out of site. I made sure EVERYONE knew that coward did something wrong as he was running. I yelled things to make him feel ashamed and remind him that he isn’t a good person. -Dalia I was once picking up a friend at the airport coming from Australia. While waiting, I saw a young lady, scared to death, literally coerced and pushed by a cab driver into his taxi. This happened and she was surrounded by airport police officers, not one but many. Same thing happened to me at the bus station this time, coming back from Dahab at 7:00 am. I was sworn at, insulted and almost hit because I refused to “get in†the taxi. Another time I was at a local hotel, and learned of a disgusting assault, that you would not believe. A security guard sexually assaulted a lady guest within the hotel! A friend of mine, so frustrated by her inability to strike back, learned how to say “what are you looking at, you pig?†in Arabic in order to talk offenders back. Stories abound and they are all sad and disgusting. -Hannah BM
