# Reasons for sexual harassment



## MaidenScotland

We are all aware it happens so I do not really want this thread to be anecdotes on what has happened to us. I have just read the following and found it very interesting and may give us an in sight into why harassment is a growing problem.



Experts say social trends are exacerbating sexual harassment on the street here.

The ECWR blames economic deprivation and even the growing conservative religious trend that promotes a restricted social role for women, and rebukes those who step outside it. Some see a broad cultural shift over the last generation, when young women rarely wore veils and Cairo was more of a secular city.

"Religion itself is not the problem, but the issue here is this conservative trend that has been influenced by the Wahhabi trend in Saudi Arabia," says Ms. Chiao, referring to the austere form of Islam that dominates Saudi Arabia.

Premarital sex is strongly condemned in Egypt, as is dating, but the country's grim economic situation means most young people cannot afford to wed. Some say that handicap is leading to frustrations that materialize in the form of harassment. The growing traditionalist view of women's roles compounds the problem.

Amna Nosseir, a professor of philosophy and former dean of Al Azhar University in Cairo, one of the centers of Sunni Islam, says Egyptian culture has changed since her youth.

"Look at our boys today," she says. "They have nothing to fill their lives except TV and the Internet, and now we have this problem of late marriage. When you combine it all, you will have social problems like harassment."

On TV and online, cultural influences of the West duel with those of the conservative states of the Persian Gulf. Egyptians watch American actors do things that they cannot, like date or have premarital sex. That in turn influences Arab pop culture, which often features scantily-clad divas and remakes of Western TV hits.

But for an earlier generation, life was a different story. Since the early 1970s, millions of Egyptians have migrated to the booming Gulf states for work. The number peaked in 1983 at over 3 million. When they returned, many adopted the conservative interpretations of Islam popular in the Gulf and brought them home. These religious ideas were new to Egypt.

Ms. Nosseir calls these ideas "nomadic jurisprudence," in reference to the Gulf's tribal cultures, and derides them as "un-Islamic and not part of our Egyptian civilization."

Ibrahim al-Houdaiby, a board member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main opposition group, says these ultraconservative religious attitudes inherently degrade women and have created the environment in which widespread harassment can flourish. "These religious discourses do not treat women as complicated human beings with minds and souls, it says they are just bodies," he says. Many of the scholars who lead prayers in Egyptian mosques have digested these attitudes, Mr. Houdaiby says, "and they have been able to influence thousands, maybe millions, of people."

For many women, nostalgia for the relative freedom of the 1960s and '70s is strong. Ms. Zayed says she sees photos of older relatives wearing things "I never would, veil or no veil."

Nosseir remembers it well, too. "Before, we never had to cover ourselves from head to toe, and before my son was born I was not veiled," she says. "If a woman was harassed on the street, all the men around would come to chase her harasser. That is unrecognizable now."


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## Helen Ellis

This explains a lot, thanks.


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## aykalam

I was just reading an article by Alaa Al Aswany on this very subject, he too stresses the negative influence that traditions imported from the Gulf have had on Egypt's society. Take for instance the niqab, a piece of clothing that has never been a religious requirement for a Muslim woman to wear here. Even Al Azhar have said in the past that this is cultural rather than religious!


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## Maireadhoey

Excellant article, but it doesn't bode well.......the secular politicians need to inform the masses that this will weaken an already fragile tourist industry, if it effects their pockets they may take some heed.





irisheyesoncairo


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## Whitedesert

for me things are simpler...as a boy I went to a co-ed school, and we used to tease the girls, but while all of that was going on we "learned" the social skills we would need later. At high school it got tough, because our hormones went through the roof, but we were again forced to relate to the girls, whom we now saw through very different eyes than the 1st grader. We learned to touch and explore our sexuality, and yes, it could go horribly wrong too, but mostly we all came through it in one piece. NONE of this is available to the young Egyptian male, or female. They just don't have the skills, skills we learned in stages, over time. This has created a monster, and is a sad reflection on the Middle-Eastern culture. I don't know what the answer is for them, but I know what is required on the biological, and anthropological level...somehow they are going to realise, that for male and female to co-exist, they need to really know each other, and that means you have to bring them up together, not separately.


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## Trvls

If it is because they can't afford to marry, it would be predominantly poor and unmarried men harassing women, but is it?

I always wish the "experts" would publish their stats. I wonder how many of the men think they're being charming, and how many of them have been punched/kicked/kneed/thrown by a woman.


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## MaidenScotland

Stats can say anything you want.


The ECWR blames economic deprivation and even the growing conservative religious trend that promotes a restricted social role for women, and rebukes those who step outside it. Some see a broad cultural shift over the last generation, when young women rarely wore veils and Cairo was more of a secular city.


They are not solely blaming the lack of marriage.


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## Trvls

MaidenScotland said:


> Stats can say anything you want.
> 
> 
> The ECWR blames economic deprivation and even the growing conservative religious trend that promotes a restricted social role for women, and rebukes those who step outside it. Some see a broad cultural shift over the last generation, when young women rarely wore veils and Cairo was more of a secular city.
> 
> 
> They are not solely blaming the lack of marriage.


I know, it was further down. Not the EWRC, "some". Whoever "some" are. Together the "experts" are all blaming everything they can think of.


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## marenostrum

MaidenScotland said:


> The ECWR blames economic deprivation and even the growing conservative religious trend that promotes a restricted social role for women, and rebukes those who step outside it. Some see a broad cultural shift over the last generation, when young women rarely wore veils and Cairo was more of a secular city.


ok with this. imho in Cairo in the mid90s harassment was not as bad as today so maybe with time the factors highlighted in the previous paragraph have made it worse.



MaidenScotland said:


> "Religion itself is not the problem, but the issue here is this conservative trend that has been influenced by the Wahhabi trend in Saudi Arabia," says Ms. Chiao, referring to the austere form of Islam that dominates Saudi Arabia.


Of course it is the problem, or maybe its not the religion itself but its interpretation by the majority of people. To say it is not the problem is avoiding the issues.



MaidenScotland said:


> Premarital sex is strongly condemned in Egypt, as is dating,


They may be condemned but they both go on behind the scenes. 



MaidenScotland said:


> but the country's grim economic situation means most young people cannot afford to wed. Some say that handicap is leading to frustrations that materialize in the form of harassment.


OK so being married here means having a lot of sex....rotfl..... as if :ranger:
They must be lucky once they get married. 



MaidenScotland said:


> "Look at our boys today," she says. "They have nothing to fill their lives except TV and the Internet, and now we have this problem of late marriage. When you combine it all, you will have social problems like harassment."
> On TV and online, cultural influences of the West duel with those of the conservative states of the Persian Gulf. Egyptians watch American actors do things that they cannot, like date or have premarital sex. That in turn influences Arab pop culture, which often features scantily-clad divas and remakes of Western TV hits.


ok so blame the west for your own shortcomings. Our chavs in Europe have nothing to fill their lives except tv, playstation and the internet but we agree that
sexual harassment isn't such a problem in Europe so you cannot blame the media.



MaidenScotland said:


> But for an earlier generation, life was a different story. Since the early 1970s, millions of Egyptians have migrated to the booming Gulf states for work. The number peaked in 1983 at over 3 million. When they returned, many adopted the conservative interpretations of Islam popular in the Gulf and brought them home. These religious ideas were new to Egypt.


Again blame the foreigners. I guess many of the 3 million are still living there in the gulf so are they telling us that a few thousand egyptians returning here have the power to change people's perceptions towards women?
Also I would say some parts of the Gulf are pretty tolerant. You don't get too many problems in the likes of Dubai for example.

I think two are the issues: religion interpretation and poverty, both self inflicted.
Don't blame the foreigner.


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## Trvls

marenostrum said:


> OK so being married here means having a lot of sex....rotfl..... as if :ranger:
> They must be lucky once they get married.


Unfortunately, in many cases it does.


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