Tag Archives: egypt

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 »
Muslim woman veil photo

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 »

Alleged Details On Lara Logan’s Assault In Egypt Emerge

Jessica WakemanFebruary 22, 2011 //

“60 Minutes” reporter Lara Logan has still not spoken publicly about being attacked on February 11 in Egypt‘s Tahrir Square while she reported on civil unrest there, but alleged details have emerged in an Australian newspaper about the physical and sexual assault Logan endured. It has really, really annoyed me reading internet commenters who have parried back and forth about Logan being “raped” (usually while discussing whether she put herself in the position for such a thing to happen), when, in fact, “rape” is a complete assumption. In its statement regarding the attack on Lara Logan and her TV crew, all that CBS News said regarding the assault was, “In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating …” People made their own inferences that “sexual assault” meant “rape,” when, in fact, it appears it did not. Keep reading »

Today In Baby News: A Kid Named “Facebook” And A Wainwright/Cohen Love Child

Ami AngelowiczFebruary 21, 2011 //

Congrats to Facebook, which officially has its first namesake. An Egyptian man named his baby girl Facebook Jamal Ibrahim to express his gratitude for the role the social networking site played in the revolution. That is very moving, but we hope the name doesn’t become trendy. I wonder if they’ll call her “Face” or “Book” for short. And more very important baby news after the jump. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: CBS News’ Lara Logan Beaten, Sexually Assaulted In Egypt

Jessica WakemanFebruary 15, 2011 //
  • CBS correspondent Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted in Egypt’s Tahrir Square on February 11 after she, her “60 Minutes” team, and their security were attacked. Logan was reportedly rescued by a group of women and 20 Egyptian soldiers. Logan returned to the United States the next morning and is currently in the hospital recovering. We have her in our thoughts and wish her a full recovery. [CBS News]
  • Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will be tried on charges of sex with a 17-year-old prostitute, a judge ruled yesterday. Thousands of Italians protested across the country on Sunday against Berlusconi’s alleged diddlings, while he maintains the accusations are “groundless.” Apparently he’ll stand trial before three female judges, too! [CNN, Guanabee]
  • Veterans who were sexually assaulted by other servicemembers filed a lawsuit against the U.S. military (specifically U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld) today with accusations it is too lax about pursuing sexual assaults. In a statement, a Pentagon spokesperson acknowledged the military had “work to do.” [BBC]

Keep reading »

Insensitive Tweets About The Situation In Egypt Are The New Black

Amelia McDonell-ParryFebruary 3, 2011 //

Oof. What was the person behind designer Kenneth Cole’s Twitter account thinking with this one? A couple hours later, that tweet was followed up with this: “we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment.” Yeah, you were just hoping to make money by using a joke about the situation as a lead in for posting a link to your online shop. Klassy! [The Gloss] Keep reading »

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