Blog 2: Sexual attacks on women in Egypt

Lauren Doss
2/1/2013
7:35 pm
   
    This article begins with a very powerful start about the girls and women who live in Cairo, Egypt getting verbally and sexually harassed in public places. This is a habitual, continuous thing for these girls and women while using public transport or simply walking down the street. For as long as this has been going on, no bystander, the government, or anyone else has stepped in to try and prevent this kind of behavior. The article notes that these women are not asking for attention, dressing provocatively, or doing anything to draw in this kind of behavior, but that is the view that this country has on this issue. Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault is an organization made up of Egyptian human rights activists who fight against the sexual harassment of all these women and young girls. On January 25, 2013 alone there were at least 19 occurrences of violence towards females. Some of these violent attacks consist of a huge, uneven male to female ratio, men ripping clothes off, grabbing different body parts, and even penetration of sharp objects and other things. Officials have a hard time prosecuting the anyone who was involved because the victims typically take a plea of silence and don’t press charges. This makes it hard for the police and the government to try to stop future occurrences.
    Another thing I found interesting in this article was that a lot of these encounters are not happening in dark alley ways in the middle of the night, they are happening in broad daylight with many bystanders around. Some people ignore what is happening and continue on while others who try to help end up becoming  a part of the victimization. I find all of this so interesting because of how different things are here compared to Egypt. The government tried to place a new sexual-harassment law, but never enforced it. This seems like a huge affair that is not getting any action taken on it. Women and others are constantly protesting for their rights in Egypt regardless of the outcome they made get from it, whether it be more abuse and violence or the long awaited action from their government and law enforcement.

http://livewire.amnesty.org/2013/02/01/sexual-attacks-on-women-in-egypt/