<snip>...
But then I was exposed to the street hustlers and hounded every step of the way- the 'my uncle has a perfume shop, please come with me' or the 'how far up this girl's skirt can I stick my hand before she slaps me' varieties particularly sap your energy.
In Cairo the amount of men who will lay hands on you- even when you are just asking for directions- appalled me and Ive spent a a chunk of time in a few Arab towns and neighbourhoods. Yes, I dressed appropriately and yes I challenged it and shamed them loudly every time, but the constant fucking effort saps your energy.
Some guy hassles you on the street- you see him off, another man comes up to help you- you thank him and smile- he then puts his hand in the small of your back and calls you habibi, you stop smiling and walk off quickly with your 'rescuer' in hot pursuit. So you slip into a store to avoid him. Then the hard sell to buy a carpet/ camera/ papyrus starts! I ended up memorising a lot of the major routes in Cairo because I refused to talk to men I didnt know!
You need patience, to keep calm , to be appropriate, and to be friendly and that all takes energy which seeps out of you because of the heat... <snip>
I like that if I go back now and can handle myself in the street, my colleagues are all like "Wha??!"
The article is about Egyptian women being assaulted. We aren't told what the survey measures.
BBC said:
Leila Ahmed, to whom I referred earlier, would agree: it's a patriarchal thing, not a specifically Islamic thing.
but that was all I can remember, other than the sort of light hearted jokey comments which were not in bad taste. No one actually touched me.
Yes, sadly true.
Yea why is Egypt being singled out? Has something happened over there recently? Why isn't the report based on all countries where this is a problem, like Pakistan as you say, or Saudi Arabia which in my opinion is the most fucked up country in the world ever
I don't need no stinkin survey to tell me Saudi Arabia is the worst country on Earth in every category I can think of! I'm sure the BBC don't need a survey either!
Not been to any of those places so can't comment from experience, but intend to visit at some point so have heard a fair bit about them. I think you can say it's a Muslim thing in certain places (Muslim places, obviously!). Syria and Jordan aren't as Islamic as somewhere like Saudi Arabia and possibly Egypt (?). I know in Saudi Arabia a lot of their problems are linked to sexual frustration with sex practically being made illegal (hence why this "Islamic" paradise has a prostitution problem just as bad as any western country). Perhaps in places like Pakistan or Egypt, in certain areas, sexual relations outside of marriage might also be illegal, if not most certain considered taboo by society.
