Groping in Cairo

Groping in Cairo.. that's sort of like eating pastries in France or drinking Guinness in Dublin. I came across a blog on the New York Times this morning that made me smile.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/in-cairo-a-groping-case-ends-in-a-prison-sentence/index.html?hp

When I was in Cairo 2 and a half years ago, there was a constant barrage of sexual harassment from Egyptian men. While I was there I did amazing things... rode a camel at the pyramids, rode a bicycle through Luxor to temples, climbed up and down and all over statues and structures that were thousands of years old. The experience was tainted almost in its entirety by the Egyptian men I encountered at every turn. I couldn't walk out of my hostel without my friend Jake. The line was crossed on numerous occasions from a mere annoyance to moments of genuine fear. I didn't know how Egyptian women put up with it. I'm glad they aren't anymore. I'm not one for feminist causes.. but this is a basic violation of human rights, the right to walk the sidewalks unaccosted and unfettered.

A survey released this year by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights found
that 98 percent of foreign women in Egypt and 83 percent of Egyptian women had
experienced some kind of sexual harassment.

That 2 and 17% (respectively) must have been pretty fucking ugly.