Egyptian Doco. on Harrasment of Women - Female Impersonator

[Hafiz]

Sexual harassment of women in Egypt is a major problem but a Cairo based TV documentary series is trying to raise awareness and has used a male actor to impersonate a woman on Cairo streets and to then report on his experiences.

“In the report, Hammad - who went out both veiled and unveiled to see whether that would make a difference - said he was followed by fancy cars with men in suits who would try to lure him into the vehicle.

On another occasion, he was followed by a man who seemed to be talking on the phone. The actor realised after a while that the man was in fact cautiously addressing him, proposing a paid appointment with another man in a hotel room.”

The producers said:

“We realised that we could not find a root cause, and so instead, the film engages in a kind of myth-busting exercise. (We found that) many perpetrators are married, they are both wealthy and poor men, and that women who are veiled in various degrees from niqab (full veil) to hijab (headscarf) are harassed in equal measure.”

They even came across a case in which a brother accidentally harassed his sister.

http://www.trust.org/item/20130510045933-gnoz8/

These producers have the smarts – using a man to impersonate a woman would pull an audience and give doubting male viewers little place to hide.

For Arabic speakers who are interested this program will be followed up with six others on social problems on ONTV under the title of Awel el Khayt.

This type of critical and hard-hitting TV doco seems a sign of the greater freedom of expression since the downfall of Mubarak and stands in contrast to the doomsayers who believe that everything is getting worse.

[LovelyLadyLux]

The producers said:

“We realised that we could not find a root cause, and so instead, the film engages in a kind of myth-busting exercise. (We found that) many perpetrators are married, they are both wealthy and poor men, and that women who are veiled in various degrees from niqab (full veil) to hijab (headscarf) are harassed in equal measure.”

Rather sad commentary that dress, from fully veiled to hijab are harrassed equally, has no impact on the male Egyptian libido. It must be extremely disheartening to the average conservatively dressed Egyptian female to fully veil, go out and become the victim to unwanted male advanced AND then, to add insult to injury, be blamed for dressing in a manner so as to excite the man. It must be further distressing to know that your explanation isn't necessarily going to be believed by law enforcement or any other official if an incident happens. And then to have ones family lay blame - really makes for an intolerable situation especially in a society that prizes a woman's virtue above all else.

It would be very interesting to know how being groped affects a woman's self esteem and self perception when you are essentially powerless to do much about it, be believed etc.