To females traveling to Egypt … or to the US

Lebanese Dr As'ad Abu Khalil of The Angry Arab News Service tells females traveling to Egypt: “to be wary, to cover up, and to mentally prepare themselves to accept a culture that is more tolerant of sexual harassment than their own.” And to those traveling to the US, he says: “to be wary because crimes against women in the US are worse than crimes against women in Egypt, and the culture in the US seems more tolerant of crimes against women than in Egypt.”

2 comments

  • As an English woman who lived in Egypt for a year, and who now lives in the US, I did feel more harassed in Cairo than in the US. However, I did not take any of the comments or name calling seriously while I lived there, and had a wonderful experience which I would not trade for anything! I think this is the kind of attitude that makes people worried about traveling, whether to the US or Egypt or anywhere!

  • I’ve been in Egypt for twenty years and can honestly say that I haven’t found harassment to be that great a problem. To be honest, I don’t like dealing with many of the young men here because I find their manners appalling, especially when they are out in groups, but as an older woman I’ve found myself treated with more respect here than in the US. I’ve always respected the local standards of dress and usually wear long pants and shirts to my elbows, but make no other adjustments. A firm, friendly face has always been my greatest asset and I’ve never stopped myself from going where ever I wanted. My daughter, however, has reported that the boys are very annoying for the younger women, even those who grow up here.

    It’s time for mothers everywhere to teach their sons to behave towards women as they (the mothers) would wish to be treated. Most of this is up to bad child-rearing and spoiling young boys who then grow up thinking that they have no boundaries.

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.