http://littleurl.info/lsp
While I am having an overwhelmingly positive experience in Egypt, things aren’t always easy. Something that is especially hard to deal with is street harassment, which is a huge problem here. Most of the girls here have had to deal with it at some point, regardless of their nationality. No “kind” of woman is singled out. I don’t want to generalize or paint all Egyptian men as disrespectful; most of the guys I have met are lovely. However, this is certainly an issue that needs to be dealt with.
The catcalls and comments are definitely wearing, so I was very excited to see a piece of anti-street harassment graffiti on a wall downtown. It depicts a hijabi in heels, spraying away a crowd of men as though they were troublesome flies. The message reads, “No to harassment.” I am glad that Cairo’s street artists have chosen to deal with this subject, as I think it is one that doesn’t get enough attention. You’re supposed to ignore it, be quiet, pretend you don’t understand, don’t start anything. (As if you’re the one that started it.) So to see a woman, even a two-dimensional one, asserting her right to walk down the street without being bothered was heartening.
