Video: Egyptian sexual harassment at its finest at Cairo University
Remember
Lara Logan? If you thought that a sexual assault in the world's largest Arab-Muslim country on a high profile television reporter, whose story was told around the world, was going to
change the behavior of the Egyptian masses, you were dead wrong.
This video was shot at Cairo University where - one would think - a higher class of people hangs out than elsewhere in Cairo. In other words, you should assume that this video includes footage of the most intelligent, 'high class' Egyptians.
Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
The
reactions to this video are utterly predictable for an Arab Muslim country.
The young girl, with long blonde hair and a pink shirt, pink shoes
and jeans, can be seen in the video, uploaded to YouTube, walking
through the university campus as a group of men gather around her and
whistle and shout profanities at her.
The Saudi television
channel reported that a group of men also attempted to remove her
clothing, which cannot be seen in the clip.
University guards were forced to escort her until the she was safely off campus.
Adding
to the controversy, the Dean of Cairo University Law School, Gaber
Nassar, described the student's outfit as "a bit unconventional" and
implied that she was responsible for the harassment it caused.
“This
girl entered the university wearing an abaya (loose cloak) and then
took it off in the faculty, and appeared with those clothes, that
caused, in reality -- but this doesn't justify at all [the incident],”
Nassar said on private Egyptian channel ONTV.
Later, Nassar realized that his reaction wasn't very smart, and tried to walk it back.
Nasser later claimed he was misquoted and justified his response on Twitter.
"I
assure that this is not true and I apologize for the misunderstanding
and I repeat that those who (harassed the girl) will be severely
punished,” he wrote.
Right.... If they ever find them.
Sexual harassment of women in the
Arab world in general and in
Egypt in particular is much worse than just about anyplace else.
While Logan's assault is horrifying, it's not surprising. The Arabs in general - and the Egyptians in particular - are known for this sort of thing. This is from a 2006 post by the Sandmonkey - one of the first things I ever read on his blog.
The
story is as follows for the those of you who didn't hear about it: It
was the first day of Eid, and a new film was opening downtown. Mobs of
males gatherd trying to get in, but when the show was sold out, they
decided they will destroy the box office. After accomplishing that, they
went on what can only be described as a sexual frenxy: They ran around
grabbing any and every girl in sight, whether a niqabi, a Hijabi or
uncoverd. Whether egyptian or foreigner. Even pregnant ones. They
grabbed them, molested them, tried to rip their cloths off and rape
them, all in front of the police, who didn't do shit. The good people of
downtown tried their best to protect the girls. Shop owners would let
the girls in and lock the doors, while the mobs tried to break in. Taxi
drivers put the girls in the cars while the mobs were trying to break
the glass and grab the girls out. It was a disgusting pandamonium of
sexual assaults that lasted for 5 houres from 7:30 PM to 12:30 am, and
it truns my stomach just to think about it.
I called my father
when I heard of that happening, and he informed me that he didn't hear
of it at all. They watched Al Jazeerah, CNN, flipped through opposition
newspapers, and nothing. Nada. Nobody mentioned it. As if it didn't
happen.
But it did.
...
Now, the egyptian
blogsphere has been abuzz in debate over the incident. Some are writing
posts on why it happend, possible causes, what it means, the social and
political factors that could possibly lead to this behavior, and quite
honestly, I can't be botherd. I don't care why it happend. Rape is not
up for debate. I just care that it happend. What we should discuss right
now isn't what caused it, but what kind of horrible punishment that
should be enacted on any egyptian male who thinks that it is well into
his right to sexually harass a female on the street. That's it. Pure and
simple.
I am often told that I am too westernized or too liberal
by people I know, and they are not wrong or inaccurate. My values are
for the most part western values. However, there are two middle-eastern
traits in me that I can never give up: The first is my stupid insistince
on always paying for the bill when I am with a girl I am dating, and
the second is my protectiveness of women. I have no tolerance for those
who assault women sexually in any way, and that almost got me kicked out
of my school in Boston when I broke the leg of one of my roommates who
raped a friend of mine. The incident only resulted in him getting a
broken leg because people stoped me before I killed him. And I had the
full intention of killing him. Rapists do not deserve to live. And
that's how I feel towards every single one of those pieces of shit that
attacked women on the streets of cairo the other day.
People can
debate solutions based on dialogue, education, or whatever and that's
their right. My solution is far simpler: Any egyptian man whose mother
raised him right should beat the living crap of any man he sees on the
street that assaults or harasses a female. Think of them as your
sisters, and act accordingly. The Police isn't interested in protecting
the women, and that's fine, but that means that we should take this job
as our own. Those who insist on acting like animals will be treated as
such, and deserve no sympathy or mercy from us. I assure you, if we did
this, if we undertook this as part of our national duty, there will no
longer be a problem on our streets.
That is all!
There's another point here. Note that the woman in the video is blonde and is wearing her hair loosely. Several years ago, the wife of a friend confided in me that she had been
raped before they were married. She was assaulted by an Arab man right
here in Jerusalem, and she told me that she attributed the assault that
she was blond and that she was wearing her hair loose. She said that
blonds have to be particularly careful around Arab men, and she advised
wearing their hair tight and in a bun. Look at the woman again. See what
I mean?
Labels: Egypt, Egyptian treatment of women, Islamic treatment of women, Muslim treatment of women, sexual harassment
Boo Hoo
Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin posts a rant after she is deported from Egypt to Turkey instead of being allowed into Gaza for - get this - International Women's Day. Meanwhile, her fellow travelers, pictured above,
remain at Cairo airport.
Just the other day I hopped on a plane to Egypt, eager to join the international delegation of 100 women headed to Gaza for International Women’s Day. Little did I know I would be stopped at the Cairo airport, detained, held overnight in a cell, then in the morning brutally assaulted by Egyptian authorities. They threw me to the ground, stomped on my back, handcuffed me so tightly they dislocated my shoulder, and then deported me to Turkey.
Now the Egyptian authorities are blocking most of the remaining delegates from entering Egypt and traveling to Gaza. It has been frustrating and disappointing for us, but we cannot forget that almost two million Palestinians remained trapped in Gaza while the Egyptian Rafah border remains closed or tightly controlled
What happened to me was traumatizing, but is minor compared to what Egyptian activists are going through, including women. Thousands of peaceful Egyptian demonstrators have been killed or jailed by the Military Junta since the July 2013 military coup.
And just how does this moron think that Hamas is treating 'Palestinian' women in Gaza? Here's an
example.
There's only one country in the Middle East which strives to treat its women like human beings. But Benjamin and her ilk cannot even acknowledges that country's existence. Jew hatred takes precedence over women's rights for these self-proclaimed women's rights activists.
Labels: Arab treatment of women, Cairo, Code Pink, Egypt, Egyptian treatment of women, Gaza, Hamas, Leftist anti-Semitism, Muslim treatment of women, women
100 more rapes in Tahrir
The Egyptians always seem to find the time to molest women no matter what is going on. It's a
national sickness.
Close to 100 women have fallen victim to "rampant"
sexual attacks in Cairo's Tahrir Square during four days of protests
against Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch
said on Wednesday.
"Mobs sexually assaulted and in some cases raped at least 91 women in
Tahrir Square... amid a climate of impunity," HRW, which is based in
New York, said in a statement.
It cited figures from the Egyptian Operation Anti-Sexual
Harassment/Assault, which runs a hotline for victims of sexual assault,
showing that there were 46 such attacks against women on Sunday, 17 on
Monday and 23 on Tuesday.
Another women's rights group, Nazra for Feminist Studies, reported that there were another five attacks on Friday, said HRW.
The watchdog called on Egyptian officials and political leaders
"across the spectrum to condemn and take immediate steps to address the
horrific levels of sexual violence" in the iconic square.
"The rampant sexual attacks during the Tahrir Square protests
highlight the failure of the government and all political parties to
face up to the violence that women in Egypt experience on a daily basis
in public spaces," said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East director.
"These are serious crimes that are holding women back from
participating fully in the public life of Egypt at a critical point in
the country's development."
There's a much bigger problem than rape preventing women from participating in Egypt's public life. The real problem is that it shows a complete lack of respect for half the population, treating women as objects rather than as people. But then, that seems to be what Islam everywhere seems to think about women, so perhaps the problem isn't unique to Egypt - it's just most visible there.
Labels: Egypt, Egyptian treatment of women, Islamic treatment of women, religion of rape
Mona Eltahaway going on trial in New York
For those who have forgotten her, Mona Eltahaway, the Egyptian
darling of the J Street crowd, is
going on trial in New York in the coming days for
defacing one of Pamela Geller's posters in the New York City subways decrying Islamic violence.
For those who have forgotten just what Eltahaway did, please go to that last link. It's quite entertaining.
Eltahaway has already
admitted her guilt - at least outside the court room.
After all this agitation, Eltahawy has now decided that it was
finally time to do what one could have expected from a prominent writer
long ago, and she has taken to the pages of the Guardian’s Comment is Free (CiF) website to make her case in writing.
It is quite obviously a weak case. The headline of her post announces “If anti-Muslim ads are protected, so must be my free speech right to protest”
– but the text reveals that even Eltahawy is aware that her act of
vandalism wasn’t really an exercise of free speech, because she admits:
“I broke the law, yes.”
But Eltahawy adds defiantly: “So what? I broke it to make a point of
principle. Eleven years after the 9/11 attacks, American Muslims are
still being bullied and vilified.”
Indeed, Eltahawy tries hard to make the case that there is at least
some “coincidental correlation” between the ads that denounce violent
jihad as savage and various incidents of anti-Muslim violence and
bigotry.
Read the whole thing.
Eltahaway would probably be safer
sitting in a New York jail than
going back to Cairo. Maybe she ought to think about it.
Labels: bus advertisements, Cairo, Egyptian treatment of women, freedom of speech, jihad, Mona Eltahaway, New York City, Pamela Geller
Muslim Brotherhood candidate for President talks about Egyptian women's rights
Here's Muhammad Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate for President of Egypt, talking about Egyptian women's rights.
Let's go to the videotape.
Anyone want to live there with him in charge?
Labels: Egyptian elections, Egyptian treatment of women, Muslim Brotherhood
Video: Lara Logan tells her story on 60 Minutes
CBS News reporter Lara Logan was the story on 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
Let's go to the videotape.
Notice what she said set the crowd off? That they said she was an Israeli Jew. She described that as being like lighting a flame for them. What do you think these people - who have a peace treaty with us - would do to Israeli Jews if God forbid they were given a chance? Remember the
Ramallah lynch? If they could have finished Logan - whom they believed to be an Israeli Jew - off that way they would have been pleased to do so.
So it was about Logan being a woman (and being
blond) until they decided she was an Israeli Jew. Then it became about tearing her apart limb by limb just like those two Israeli soldiers. It was no longer about sex (if it ever was). It was about power. It was about tearing apart the infidel (Israeli) Jew. She is lucky to be alive.
Phyllis Chesler criticizes Logan for not referring to her tormentors once on the air as Muslims. Nor, writes Chesler, does she seem to blame them at all. In fact, Chesler finds Logan's description to be
too politically correct.
With all due respect both for Logan’s terrible ordeal and for her choice to “break the silence,” how naive can she have been? How frightened is she still now? Does Logan fear she will lose her mainstream media credentials if she analyzes what happened to her in feminist and political terms?
I think she does. While she has told the truth about what happened to her, her careful, cautious, exceedingly politically correct presentation suggests that many hands were, once again, behind what she said and how she said it.
Logan was born in South Africa where the sexual violence against girls and women is extreme. She was born in Africa where gang-rape and rape have been employed not as a spoil of war but as a systematic weapon of war (think Rwanda, Darfur, Congo, Liberia). She is a reporter at a time in history when both infidel and Muslim women are routinely raped—then arrested for it, raped again by their jailers, then flogged, hung, or stoned for the crime of having been raped. Think Iran. Think Pakistan.
And finally, it is a well known fact that the male sexual harassment of women on the streets of Egypt is pandemic. One survey documented that 98% of infidel or foreign women and 88% of Egyptian women have been harassed on these mean streets. Thus, should women reporters not cover Muslim countries?
Guess what? Muslim men also rape Muslim and infidel boys as well as foreign male journalists whom they also torture and behead. (Think Daniel Pearl.) There is a long history of Muslim men kidnapping, enslaving, selling, branding, and castrating infidel men as well as selling infidel women as sex slaves.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Egyptian treatment of women, Lara Logan, Ramallah lynch, rape, religion of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment
Lara Logan to be on 60 Minutes Sunday
Those of you near television sets with access to US stations may want to watch CBS on Sunday night. They will be interviewing one of their own, Lara Logan, who will be talking about her
sexual assault at the hands of Egyptian predators in Cairo's Tahrir Square in February (Hat Tip:
Soccer Dad).
Ms. Logan, a CBS News correspondent, was in the square preparing a report for “60 Minutes” on Feb. 11 when the celebratory mood suddenly turned threatening. She was ripped away from her producer and bodyguard by a group of men who tore at her clothes and groped and beat her body. “For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands,” Ms. Logan said in an interview with The New York Times. She estimated that the attack lasted for about 40 minutes and involved 200 to 300 men.
Ms. Logan, who returned to work this month, is expected to speak at length about the assault on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.
...
“There was a moment that everything went wrong,” she recalled.
As the cameraman, Richard Butler, was swapping out a battery, Egyptian colleagues who were accompanying the camera crew heard men nearby talking about wanting to take Ms. Logan’s pants off. She said: “Our local people with us said, ‘We’ve gotta get out of here.’ That was literally the moment the mob set on me.”
Mr. Butler, Ms. Logan’s producer, Max McClellan, and two locally hired drivers were “helpless,” Mr. Fager said, “because the mob was just so powerful.” A bodyguard who had been hired to accompany the team was able to stay with Ms. Logan for a brief period of time.
“For Max,” the producer, “to see the bodyguard come out of the pile without her, that was one of the worst parts,” Mr. Fager said. He said Ms. Logan “described how her hand was sore for days after — and then she realized it was from holding on so tight” to the bodyguard’s hand.
“My clothes were torn to pieces,” Ms. Logan said.
She declined to go into more detail about the assault but said: “What really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence.”
...
Before the assault, Ms. Logan said, she did not know about the levels of harassment and abuse that women in Egypt and other countries regularly experienced. “I would have paid more attention to it if I had had any sense of it,” she said. “When women are harassed and subjected to this in society, they’re denied an equal place in that society. Public spaces don’t belong to them. Men control it. It reaffirms the oppressive role of men in the society.”
I'm a bit surprised that CBS didn't brief her as to Egypt's often sordid treatment of women before it sent her there.
Read the whole thing. I will try to post the 60 Minutes segment on Monday morning, assuming that it is embeddable.
Labels: Egyptian treatment of women, Lara Logan, sexual assault, sexual harassment
