million woman march called in Egypt

Badly needed. HERE.

One of the least pleasant features of life in Egypt, and one that I never have to deal with myself, is sexual harassment. It’s really out of control. (That’s not the only issue they’re marching about, but it’s a big one.)

It was nice to see everyone suddenly cleaning the streets in Egypt in reaction to the revolution: “the country belongs to us now,” that sort of thing. In a similar spirit it would be a nice goal to see everyone say all of a sudden: “in democratic Egypt, we will no longer harass women constantly on the street.” It’s a tougher project, but I’m glad there will be a march. It’s a good first step.

Actually, I shouldn’t say I’ve never had to deal with it. The weirdest incident I experienced here was in my first semester. Someone grabbed my wallet and ran off with it, and though there was barely any money in it, I was angry and decided to report the incident.

The first thing they did in the police station was show me a lineup of “usual suspects” who were being forced to stand in a room for God knows how long, and all of them looked frightened. They asked if it was any of those guys. No, it wasn’t. But the scary thing is that if I had been enough of a sadist to pick one out and insist it was him, they surely would have run with it, and someone’s life would have been ruined.

But then I went in to talk to the detective. He closed the door, and took his pants off. I kid you not. He was walking around the room in his underwear for 2 or 3 minutes. Was I scared? Never. He had no idea who I was (I could have been the Ambassador’s son), and was surely just testing the waters rather than making a threat (it would have been different if I’d been a poor young Egyptian; I doubt I was the first person he’d tried this move on). After a few minutes he apparently concluded that this wasn’t going anywhere, and he put on a different pair of pants.

I wouldn’t say it was unnerving. It was just weird, that’s all. So, I guess I can say I’ve had my one incident of harassment in this system. The system needs to be completely gutted and rebuilt.