Egypt: Plans for Sexual Harassment Film Unveiled
After the success of Egypt's Anti-Harassment Day, Egyptian blogger Asser Yasser invited women to share their personal experiences with this issue.
Asser wrote:
الفيلم لا يتبع أى جهة رسمية أو قناة فضائية أو محلية ولا أى مركز ابحاث
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طبيعة الفيلم تقوم على متابعة عدد من الفتيات والسيدات على الطبيعة أثناء سيرهم فى الشارع بالكاميرا
لمدة 5 دقائق .. وتصوير المضايقات التى يمكن أن يتعرضن أثناء سيرهن فى الشارع على الطبيعة
ثم يتم حصر عدد المضايقات بالنسبة لعدد الفتيات أو السيدات محل الدراسة
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مطلوب متطوعات لتصوير الفيلم
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The documentary is based on following a number of females around for five minutes as they walk in the street. Our aim is to get footage of the forms of harassment they get exposed to while running errands. At a later stage, the forms will be categorized and will be studied independently.
Volunteers wanted!
Egyptian women join hands against harassment
The activist also shared pictures (see above) and details of the activities organised on the anti-harassment day here.
Asser's call received several responses, the most interesting of which was a blog post in solidarity with the cause by Wandering Scarab - an Egyptian woman living in Canada:
When I was living in Egypt, in the early 90s, I was subjected to sexual harassment on a daily basis. From the clerk at the grocery store all the way to the guy taking my order for pizza delivery, sexual harassment in Egypt is very common. Some behaviors that constitute sexual misconduct in Western societies are even completely acceptable in Egypt such as whistling and verbal abuse of women passing by. As women, we are often taught that there is something wrong with us and that perhaps we give the wrong signals or do something to attract the attention of sexual predators. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I recall some of the things I've experienced – some of them funny, some scary.
The average Egyptian girl, including myself, suffers sexual abuse almost constantly as a normal part of her life.
The post goes into more details – in English and in Arabic – about the exact details of harassment.
1 comment
sexual harassment results from individuals who has lower education morals without the recognition that the girl or the woman rejects such behaviour .May be this results from the media illusion which unluckly aims at prevoking men against women.In the past in Egypt especially in the countryside the person who does this behaviour had to be punished in public for only standing in the street alone when a woman is passing.