Tag Archives: egypt

Egyptian Activist Groups Now Working To Stop Street Harassment

Julie GersteinNovember 6, 2012 //

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Women Disappear In Juarez

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Street Harassment

How do you respond? Read More »

When the Arab Spring hit in early 2011, no one could have guessed what it might have meant for women’s rights in Egypt. But as the country continues to feel its way through a revolution, there is one surprising outcome — several citizen’s groups are now patrolling the streets of Cairo, and taking action against men that perpetrate violence against women.

If anything, the uprising has made violence and harassment against women more visible, say officials, and that’s spurred residents into action. Teenage boys as young as 16 are even joining the patrols. The groups are in response to a culture of government and police inaction, bolstered in part by a former regime that touted that violence against women was a non-issue in Egypt.

Keep reading »

TV Station Staffed By Fully Veiled Women Launches In Egypt

Jessica WakemanJuly 31, 2012 //

A new TV station called Maria recently debuted in Egypt which employs and is run by women who wear the face-covering niqab veil. Journalism students say they couldn’t find jobs in television, even ones where they would not appear on camera, because they are covered except for their eyes. Maria launched on July 20 and airs four hours a day on parent channel Al-Omma. So far it is all volunteer-run. [CNN]
Companies with women on their boards outperformed similarly-sized companies by 26 percent, according to a study by Credit Suisse. [Think Progress]
Artist Marina Abramovic is holding a women-only lecure at the Melton 2012 music festival in London, which will be entitled “The Spirt In Any Condition Does Not Burn.” Although she hasn’t explained what the lecture will be about or why it will be women-only, she has indicated it may be about exploring femininity. [Huffington Post] Keep reading »

Naked Islamic Woman In Body Paint Veil Causes Controversy For Foreign Policy Magazine

Jessica WakemanApril 27, 2012 //

Lara Logan's Assault

CBS reporter Lara Logan was sexually assaulted while reporting in Cairo. Read More »

Shut Up, Howard

Howard Stern helpfully tells women journalists to stay out of Egypt. Read More »

Sex With Dead Wife's Body

Egypt is considering a law allowing a man to sleep with his dead wife. Read More »

Foreign Policy body paint niqab pics photo

Wonk-y magazine Foreign Policy‘s most recent issue, The Sex Issue, is right up our alley with a cover story article about the how the real war on women is in the Middle East. Author Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian-American writer who was beaten and sexually assaulted by police while protesting in Tahrir Square in Cairo. Her piece, “Why Do They Hate Us?“, is worth a read on its own.

But images used for the piece are also causing controversy: an attractive, naked woman is covered in body paint made to look like a niqab (a body-covering veil), with only her eyes showing. Newsweek‘s Tumblr lauded the images as “powerful,” while a Tumblr blogger who goes by the name That Sassy Arab chastised the magazine: “Nope, newsweek [sic], this is not stunning and powerful, or awesome. This is highly offensive and completely misguided.” Other critiques of the images used by FP, and the article by by Eltahawy hereself, are here, here and here.

What do you think, Frisky readers? [Foreign Policy]

Last Chance To Schtup Your Dead Wife’s Corpse, Egyptian Dudes

Jessica WakemanApril 27, 2012 //

Lara Logan's Assault

CBS reporter Lara Logan was sexually assaulted while reporting in Cairo. Read More »

Shut Up, Howard

Howard Stern helpfully tells women journalists to stay out of Egypt. Read More »

Lara's Speaks Out

Lara Logan speaks out about being sexually assaulted in Egypt. Read More »

Bringing new meaning to the phrase “before the body gets cold,” Egypt is considering a new law that will allow Egyptian husbands to have sex with their dead wife’s corpse up to six hours after death. But don’t get your panties in a knot, ladies. Wives can have sex with their dead husbands’ corpse as well, because the issue at hand is whether marriage is still in effect after death. (Unless rigor mortis sets in southward, we don’t much see the point.) This very important matter of “farewell intercourse” is just one of many measures Egypt’s Islamist-dominated parliament is considering; the others are not so what-the-fuck as they are human rights abuses. Other laws being considered would restrict women’s access to education and employment and lower the minimum marriage age to 14. Pardon my pun, but those are the real issues here, even if they’re not as sexy as the necrophilia law. [Al-Arabiya; Daily Mail UK]

Today’s Lady News: Egyptian Woman Fights “Virginity Testing” — Er, Rape — By Police

Jessica WakemanJanuary 10, 2012 //

While protesting at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Samira Ibrahim was grabbed by Egyptian soldiers, stripped, electrically prodded, and sexually assaulted, which they told her was a “virginity test.” She is just one of many women who have been sexually assaulted after being detained by soldiers. Samira, age 25, and her father have filed a court case against the government, which has led to a ban against so-called “virginity tests.” On Sunday, a court will hear evidence against a soldier who ordered the sexual assaults. [New York Times, The National AE]
New Hampshire’s state House of Representatives has approved a “fetal homicide” bill allowing criminal charges against a person who causes the violent death of a fetus. Advocates for legal abortion say such bills are a sneaky way to conceptualize a fetus as a “person” who can be “murdered,” thus undermining abortion rights. But supporters of such bills say it allows the perpetrator to be doubly punished for hurting or killing a pregnant woman. [Union Leader]
The Pope has suggested same-sex marriage is a threat to “the future of humanity itself.” [Reuters]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should run as Obama’s vice president during the 2012 election, former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller has suggested. [The Daily Beast] Keep reading »

Egyptian Court Stops “Virginity Tests” On Female Protesters In Prison

Jessica WakemanDecember 28, 2011 //

Frisky Feminism!

Everything The Frisky has ever written about feminism! Read More »

Lara Logan's Assault

CBS reporter Lara Logan was sexually assaulted while reporting in Cairo. Read More »

Poll Asks If Lara To Blame

An online poll about Lara Logan's assault suggest she's to blame. Read More »

"Virginity Tests" Protested

Egyptians protest the sexual assault of women by military personnel. Read More »

Sexual assault and the threat of sexual assault are used as a way to control women. Nowhere is that more present, lately, than in Egypt where female protesters have been forced to undergo “virginity tests” administered by soldiers when they are arrested and imprisoned. Yesterday, a Cairo court sided with protester Samira Ibrahim, age 25, who was assaulted with a “virginity test” after she was arrested in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in March, and ordered that the military stop forcing its way into women’s bodies. The court’s ruling claimed, “These acts involve deliberate humiliation and intentional insult to women participating in protests.” Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Egyptian Blogger Posts Nude Pics Of Herself

Jessica WakemanNovember 17, 2011 //

Egyptian blogger Aliaa Maghda El-Mahdy, age 20, is posting nude pictures of herself on her blog as political protest about women’s sexuality and censorship. Aliaa calls herself a “secular liberal feminist vegetarian individualist Egyptian” (i.e. hella cool) says she challenges Eypgt’s ”censoring of our knowledge, expression and sexuality.” Rock on, sister. [The Daily Beast]
The best new feminist characters on TV are men. Give us more of ‘em, I say! [TIME]
“I need more evidence” and other dismissive things dudes say that probably make them a ”mansplainer.” [Feministing] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Egyptians Protest “Virginity Tests” On Women

Jessica WakemanMay 31, 2011 //

Egyptians are holding an online protest tomorrow against the military’s use of “virginity tests” on female protestors (i.e. sexual assault). The Egyptian military claims it needs to test women for virginity to make sure they are not prostitutes, which, of course, serves as a deterrent for women to protest in the first place. [Guardian UK]
Psychology Today apologized this weekend for publishing a racist blog post in which evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanzawa sought to explain that black women were less attractive than women of other races. [The Atlantic Wire]
Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi women’s rights activist, has dropped her campaign to get women to break the law and drive cars on June 17. Al-Sharif was released from jail yesterday after being detained by Saudi police for a week. [The Atlantic Wire]

Keep reading »

Lara Logan Speaks Out On “60 Minutes” About Her Sexual Assault In Egypt’s Tahrir Square

Jessica WakemanMay 2, 2011 //

Last night on “60 Minutes,” reporter Lara Logan shared with the world the horrific beating and sexual assault she suffered in Egypt‘s Tahrir Square while reporting on the country’s revolution. Since the incident on February 11, the world knew Logan had been separated from her producer, cameramen and bodyguards and assaulted by a mob of angry men. Logan was eventually rescued first by Egyptian women who protected her until Egyptian soldiers plucked her from the angry mob. In a 13-minute long segment on “60 Minutes,” Logan gave a firsthand account of being at first molested and then raped “with their hands” by hordes of men for approximately half an hour; her clothing was torn from her body, some of her hair was ripped out, and her limbs were pulled with such force so that her muscles were sore for days. Logan said she is speaking out now to put a public face and a story to the sexual assaults and rapes endured by women (and surely some men) in the news media while reporting. Many are reluctant to speak up about their assaults, lest it be used against them in advancing their careers — but not Lara Logan. She is a hero and a survivor. [CBS News] Keep reading »

Lara Logan Opens Up About Sexual Assault In Egypt: “They Raped Me With Their Hands”

Jessica WakemanApril 28, 2011 //

In February, the world held its breath when CBS’s “60 Minutes” reporter Lara Logan was badly beaten and sexually assaulted while covering the political uprising in Egypt’s Tahrir Square. After being rescued by civilians and a group of soldiers, Logan abruptly left her coverage and flew home to the U.S., where she was hospitalized for four days. Logan and CBS then released a statement.

Now, in an interview with The New York Times, Lara Logan has opened up publicly for the first time about the brutal assault. Keep reading »