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| Africa North |
| Egypt women wage war against 'sexual terrorism' |
| 2013-03-06 |
| Faced with a spike in sexual violence against female protesters, Egyptian women are overcoming stigma and recounting painful testimonies to force silent authorities and a reticent society to confront "sexual terrorism." The victims of the attacks have been talking openly about their ordeals, insisting they will not be intimidated by a campaign they believe is aimed at shunning them from public life. "We are not victims, we are revolutionaries. What happened to us has made us stronger and we will continue" to take to the streets, said activist Aida al-Kashef. Harassment of women is by no means new on Egypt's streets, where they were often the target of verbal abuse and sometimes groping. But since the revolution that toppled long-time president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the problem has snowballed, with women now being regularly attacked by mobs of men in and around Tahrir Square. The attackers have stripped women of their clothes with knives, sexually assaulted them and penetrated them with their fingers. Yasmine al-Baramawy, who was assaulted in November, highlighted the degree of violence when during a talk show she held up the ripped trousers she wore the day she was attacked. "They gathered around me and started ripping my clothes off with knives," Baramawy told AFP. She was then dragged several hundred metres (yards), while being touched and groped, until residents of neighbouring area saved her from the crowd. "I didn't feel sad or feel that my pride had been damaged. I felt angry, and I want justice," Baramawy said. Outraged Egyptians came together to form groups such as Operation Anti Sexual Harassment and Tahrir Bodyguard that bring together volunteers to intervene to stop the attacks in Tahrir Square where police are largely absent. The groups also offer medical and psychological support to the victims |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #12 Why doesn't some Islamist recruit a few good women to suicide bomb these perverts? I bet you could get a lot of them with just a few. Oh wait it just occurred to me that perhaps those Islamists, who recruit suicide bombers are those perverts. |
| Posted by: rammer 2013-03-06 20:09 |
| #11 During the early days of the anti Mubarak movement, many people blamed the Mubarak police and said they were hiring thugs to do this (as in the Lara Logan incident). But Mubarak is long gone and Morsi has been in power since July 2012 and the sexual assaults continue. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-03-06 19:04 |
| #10 "Is that a spike in your sexual violence, or are you just happy to see me?" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-03-06 15:22 |
| #9 The latter, I would think, Skidmark. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-03-06 11:52 |
| #8 Faced with a spike in sexual violence against female protesters I wonder if it really is a spike, or is there more visibility? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2013-03-06 11:51 |
| #7 Perhaps some enterprising Egyptian should start importing, or better, manufacturing these. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-03-06 10:22 |
| #6 Operation Anti Sexual Harassment certainly sounds like something a group of Dhimmicrats would do. Perhaps the wimmins of Egypt can't be armed with Glocks or even Lady Smith's. But they could carry a blade of some kind. And use it. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2013-03-06 09:37 |
| #5 Oh look, something Egypt and Democrats have in common! |
| Posted by: Charles 2013-03-06 09:11 |
| #4 A 'Lady Smith' loaded with 125 Grain Brass Jacketed Hollow Points is a quite effective deterrent. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-06 09:09 |
| #3 So is this just boys from good families exhibiting high spirits or is it desperate peons from the slums with no hope of ever being able to afford a bride price getting the only satisfaction available to them? Yes. |
| Posted by: Hupinelet Flomosh6990 2013-03-06 09:03 |
| #2 Arm the ladies, give them real training, let them sort it all out. Seems a lot of ammo sitting around fed agencies here that could be provided as 'foreign aid' that might actually do some good. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-03-06 08:36 |
| #1 So is this just boys from good families exhibiting high spirits or is it desperate peons from the slums with no hope of ever being able to afford a bride price getting the only satisfaction available to them? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-03-06 07:28 |