Thursday 4 September 2008

Sexual Harrasment It Has To Stop

This is just so sick , I feel like crying inside. Is this what life is like for a muslim women in an muslim country ? God please protect my sisters and keep them safe from these fools.

Seven Egyptian women talk about their experience of sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo. It is an increasingly common problem, with a recent survey suggesting more than four out of five women have been sexually harassed, while nearly two-thirds of men admitted assaulting women.


Noha Wagih

Once I was out driving with my brother when he stopped at a supermarket and I waited for him outside. Two guys got out of a car and walked towards me in an intimidating way. They started commenting on the way I look and the way I'm dressed. I usually don't answer back, but this time I said: 'I'm not here to get picked up, you know.' This was too much for one of them who started shouting that I was crazy. I replied that even if I were a prostitute, I wouldn't give him a second glance. This made him mad. He came right up to me, shouting that he was a policeman and he would 'show me'. In no time three more cars pulled up, and a group of men got out and started yelling at me and my brother.I wrote down the number of the first car saying I was going to report him. He got so angry I thought he was going to beat me, so I slapped his face and started shouting 'Rape!' They all ran away, and I was left alone with my brother shaking with fear.After this experience I want to make a programme for TV about sexual harassment.

Posy Abdou

I get harassed 100 times a day. I tried everything to stop it but it doesn't stop. I wear loose clothes, I don't wear make up, I spend more than an hour in front of the mirror everyday thinking of ways to hide my body.I walk home everyday. It only takes me 15 minutes, I cross the bridge. It is usually very loud and busy, but that does not stop men from approaching girls, any girl, good looking or bad looking, covered or not. I remember so many scary harassments. There was this guy who followed me and suddenly grabbed my bottom in front of everyone. I screamed but he ran away and no one interfered. Once I was shopping with my father and aunt, and this guy kept staring at me and blowing me kisses. My dad shouted at him and started hitting him. I think men are doing this because they are jobless and have no manners.

Nora Khaled

I get harassed everyday, during the five minutes I walk from my house to the main street to take the school bus. Also in the seconds I cross the street when I finish my swimming class at the sports club. I was waiting for the school bus once when a microbus driver followed me and kept calling me very bad names. I was so scared and embarrassed, I cried.

Nancy Fakhr

I don't walk a lot in the streets, because I have a car. But I get harassed by guys driving close to me, they try to grab my attention, it could lead to accidents.The worst harassment I remember was last winter. I didn't have my car and I was sleeping over at my sister's house. I got up at 0700 to catch the bus and go to work. A guy followed me and kept calling me very bad names. I was horrified and I started walking fast, even running. When he got very close to me, I was scared he would touch me, so I picked a stone from the floor and threw it at him and ran as fast as I could until I got to the main street and took the bus. I was shaking and trembling. When I arrived at work, I collapsed and cried for a long time. When my colleagues asked me what is wrong, I lied and said I have family problems.

Zeinab Boulaki

I get harassed whenever I walk down the street; even during the seconds I cross the street to take my car. Yesterday, when I was parking the car in front of my house, a guy grabbed my bottom, I shouted at him, and insulted him. At least I did something about it. My mother says I shouldn't answer back, but I think this is wrong. This way they will think they can harass anyone and get away with it. I know that shouting at someone who harasses me verbally or physically is not enough but at least it makes me feel better than doing nothing.

You can read the original article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7593765.stm#zeinab

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