I think I started reading psychology in the year 2000 when I was about 15 years old. Psychology helped me a lot in understanding motives and ways of thinking of others, so that was a great help to me in my political activism. Also, a book I read before, about psychology of militarists for Sigmund Freud,, helped me dealing with militarists in my struggle for peace and non-violence. My activism led me to jail, so I thought to use the wasted time here in making a field study doing some psychological analysis for criminals jailed with me. I’ll try to summarize my major notices, categorize them, even knowing that these information could have been written before by researchers on criminology and psychology, but I believe that adding a new field-study from a prison in Egypt, made by a prisoner could be of a positive value.
* Sample of study
- About 30 prisoners (drug dealers, thugs, robbers, killers)
All came by military trials

1- Denial
* Denial was the greatest psychopath. I saw here criminals are living in a parallel world, different from reality.
* Nearly, every prisoner believes that he is innocent, everyone denies his crime. For moments, I felt that I’m the only one made things against the law. Some people claim that they didn’t commit their crime, but police faked the case to harm them. Others don’t see anything wrong with their crimes; just as the drug dealer who says that there is nothing wrong in selling narcotics (even he knows that it causes harm). Also, the killer who sees that it was a normal reaction from him to kill the person who insulted him or tried to get close to one of his females.
* One of the prisoners usually says “I believe that God would stand with me, because I didn’t harm anybody ever in my life”… This man killed, injured, hostaged, was jailed in lots of countries for more than 25 years and was active in trading drugs in more than 5 countries, in Europe and Middle East!
* As being with a group came by military trials in a very exceptional time, this made us very interested to follow the political news. Everyone was hoping that a political change could happen, leading to canceling military trials and freeing them. They can’t accept the idea that they harmed innocent people and deserve to be punished and rehabilitated in jail to be good citizens… But, look at it from another view, I, myself, don’t believe that I’m guilty, I don’t believe that I made anything wrong and I intend to continue my activism when I be released!

2- Schizophrenia
* Denial leads to having two identities; real one outside the prison and the other identity is the innocent one inside the jail and in front of investigators.
* I noticed also that most of criminals have two or three names. It’s common in Egypt to have two names (without a noticeable cause for that), but criminals have lots of names for lots of purposes. They use this variety to run from investigations and trials (as an accusation to Mr. A doesn’t lead to accusing Mr. B, when the investigator doesn’t know that Mr. A is Mr. B). Having two names helps them to hide their crimes from their families or any other people they don’t want them to know about their crimes. Also, having two names helps them escape from police officers and secret service.
* The direct result of having two names is having two identities (personalities) and you can be surprised at any second of changing in manners of the man in front of you. He just switches between both of them or switch on and off the other identity he doesn’t want to show in jail.
* Practically, when you deal with them, you find some of them faithful, religious, courageous, slightly enlightened… etc. But, all of that can change in seconds to see a selfish bloody person, full of hatred.
* Prisoners are also pretending all the time; pretending being rich is a common thing here. Lots of prisoners here pretend to be millionaires, they act as if they are going to buy you and your family. By time, you discover that they are poor people. Even if you didn’t get information proving they aren’t rich as they claim, their way dealing with money and how they fight for small and cheap things, make you believe that those people can’t have the amount of money they claim.

3- Lying
* Prisoners lie just for lying. One of them says a piece of a poet every day (the same piece); a part of it says, “tell me about prisoners and their lies; tell me about lies which run in their views”… Also, this man claims that he never lies, even though he lies every second!
* Prisoners don’t lie for a logical cause, they are just used to giving wrong answers as a normal reflex. They also feel power in deceiving others. They keep telling opposite (contradicting) stories about their lives. They tell false names for their sons. They could even claim of being sons of families, other than their true families.
* Dealing with prisoners taught me that you should believe that he is lying until he proves the opposite. You can’t deal with them as if they are telling they truth.

4- Ego
* Prisoners have enlarged egos. I think that the ego is the cause of all crimes. The man who kills another man because of a couple of words, the ego forced him to kill. The same with stealers and rapists. Ego is the mother of all crimes.
* The criminal doesn’t understand the idea of having borders between him and others. He sees it’s normal to interfere in others’ lives, insult them, use them, make fun of them, on the other hand, he can’t accept being treated the same way.
* Criminals also don’t believe in private property. When he sees something he likes, he just goes on and takes it (without a permission from its owner) and he doesn’t see something wrong with this. That’s why stealers don’t see something wrong in taking others’ money.
* Ego of criminals also gives them the impression that they have the right to use others and use them as slaves. When he wants something, he just orders any weak prisoner to do it. You need to have also an enlarged psycho-pathetic ego to make them fear you, and so fear of treating you the same way.

5- Complicated relation with religion
* I think this could be part of the schizophrenic point, but it has notices which should be focused on.
* Criminals have very fantastic opinions. They don’t see that Bin Laden did anything wrong. They don’t respect Jews or Christians in general (even though they respected me, thinking I’m a Christian). They hare non-believers and atheists. They are ready to kill or injure anyone telling them a bad opinion about their religion.
At the same time, they don’t pray nor fast. Their crimes (killing, injuring, stealing) are banned in their religions and they don’t see anything wrong in committing them. They use narcotics everyday, even they believe it’s forbidden by God.
* Criminals also are superstitious. They believe that dreams are messages from God which will come true. They feel good or bad when they hear specific types of birds. They believe in ghosts. They also believe in lots of myths not related to Islam.

6- Self-hatred
* This gets on surface when he is weak. It becomes obvious that he hates his life, his principles, may be even himself.
* When someone emotionally close to him tells him bad news, talk to him hardly, he starts blaming everyone led him to that crime, takes decisions to stop making crimes when he is released. Deep inside, he wishes if he had a different (regular/normal) life. Maybe, the hard time we live here in jail is the cause which makes him hates his crimes.

7- Sex-phobia and homophobia
* I believe it’s normal to be a homosexual when you are forced to live years without seeing a female. But, even if it’s spontaneous and good for them, they are still homophobic. When they know about a gay prisoner, they start insulting and beating him.
* But, this behavior isn’t related only to homosexual behavior, they nearly do the same thing towards whoever they know that he masturbates or owns sexual pictures with him.
* Schizophrenically, they like to talk a lot about their sexual adventures, with stimulant sexual details!

8- Continuous making of troubles
* Life in jail is very boring. Some prisoners will have to spend in prison 20 years or more. Egyptian prisoners have nearly nothing which can help you spend time without being bored. That’s how prisoners discovered a new way to kill time: making troubles.
* One of the prisoners told me, “the prisoner is a son of a bitch, if you gave him a finger, he will take you all, he will step on your head”… He was describing how prisoners deal with each other inside jail.
* The advantage of making troubles is that it kills lots of time and it brings with it lots of positive and negative feelings. They need those feelings while they are isolated by speechless walls.
That’s why prisoners fight each other every moment, interfere in others’ privacy, deliberately understand every word as an insult to use it to begin a fight… etc.
* Prisoners don’t know how to spend time positively and prison management doesn’t try to teach them how to do that. They don’t like to read newspapers or books. They usually aren’t interested in continuing their study from within jail.
* Long boring time and the inability to use it pushes them to use narcotics continuously to kill time and drugs make them make more troubles, and the cycle goes on.

- Final general notices

• Being a prisoner myself, made it hard for me to focus more than this. I wish I could make larger and more detailed research.
• Also, I felt changes in my behavior inside jail. Some changes are good adaptation, others are bad changes, I’ll need to visit a psychiatrist to fix them. What I’m trying to say is that in prison, there is a behavioral state affecting anyone inside and each prisoner is forced to take reaction towards it.
• Legally, there should be a psychiatrist and a social professional in jail to help prisoners. I don’t know if they exist, but if they do, we are not in contact with them in an way. This way in prison management doesn’t fight crime, but produces new criminals to society.

Maikel Nabil Sanad
El-Marg prison
18-5-2011

The sexual harassment epidemic in Egypt is actually quite a hot topic at the moment, and recently made an appearance on the big screen.

678 is an outstanding movie written and directed by Mohammed Diab. As the official website puts it, it is “the hauntingly real story of three women and their search for justice from the daily plight of sexual harassment in Egypt”. The movie tackles the subject brilliantly, exposing three different yet equally malicious forms of harassment. It is a moving and raw story with superb acting, worthy of far more attention than it received. I really cannot recommend it enough.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COesFcvkXaE&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

One of the story lines was inspired by the very real tale of Noha Roshdy, the first Egyptian woman to file a lawsuit against her assailant and win. Noha got groped by the driver of a pickup truck while crossing a street in Cairo. With only the help of her friend and a stranger, she dragged the man to a police station and insisted on filing a sexual harassment lawsuit, something practically unheard of at the time.

Noha appeared on various talk shows after her victory. She recounted how the crowd that had formed during the incident had eventually called her crazy and chastised her for her clothes, despite her insisting that her outfit was not even remotely feminine, let alone provocative. This happened to her again live on the air when she was on a talkshow hosted by Mona El Shazli. One viewer called to generously inform them that the driver held 60% of the responsibility, while Noha herself held 30% (the remaining 10% went to the government). You can listen to it here about 2 minutes in:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6RDTU9nZvc&t=2m0s[/youtube]

He goes on to explain that she must have been “wearing something suggestive, or laughing too loudly”. That’s right, he actually said that her laughter might been the cause of her harassment. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one watching who was seeing red at this point, and thankfully both Mona and Noha competently replied, with Noha emphasizing just how important it is for us as a culture to refine our concept of harassment and take it more seriously as an unequivocal crime.

Another guest who also made the talk show rounds whenever this topic came up is Sara Eldemerdash, one of the founders of HarassMap. This is a website that allows you to report incidents of harassment by SMS, which then get posted on the site. You can also post it on the site yourself or tweet it using the hasthag #harassmap. It’s an innovative idea that hopes to spread awareness about harassment and gives women an opportunity to speak out.

Harassmap isn’t the only thing to come out of this. Not long ago I was pleasantly surprised to see posters on some streets condemning harassment.

It is undeniable that many promising steps have already been taken. As it happens, today is the “Blogging and Tweeting Day Against Sexual Harassment and Gender Violence in Egypt” so you can do your part in ensuring that this issue can no longer hide from public scrutiny, bringing us that much closer to ending it.

#endSH

Originally published on http://finding-hawwa.blogspot.com/

The latest in a string of inanities asks, “What is the most suitable way to curb sexual harassment?” Is it a) Men should control themselves, or b) Women should wear looser clothes. With roughly 100,000 votes, I’m depressed to admit that I didn’t expect the first option to take the lead, if only by a small margin. The answers accompanying the question were pretty much what you’d expect, so brace yourselves.

All variations of “Respectful girls don’t get harassed.” / “Show a guy two women: one covered the other not, which is more likely to get attention?”/ “God said so.”

While a lot of them said that both answers were necessary, they usually added that women bear the brunt of the blame. The solution is obvious: Girls should just cover up, both to “protect themselves” and to “give men a break.”

Sadly, this is a pervasive opinion in Egypt. While most people condemn the harassers, that doesn’t stop them from believing that women bring it on themselves. We teach our daughters and sisters that they should cover up for their own protection. Forget this utopian planet where you can dress however you please, the reality is that you can’t control the harassers. This is a seemingly pragmatic solution to a problem that is out of our control.

We are led to believe that playing by the rules will keep you safe. People always ask incredulously if a woman has ever been harassed while wearing the niqab. I have to wonder which reality they’re living in, because according to the now-infamous Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights survey, 72 percent of those who described incidents of harassment said they were veiled at the time, some of whom were wearing the niqab. What now?

The most frustrating thing about stubbornly holding on to this idea is that whenever harassment does occur, some people will run through a million scenarios in order to legitimize this belief instead of entertaining the possibility that it might be wrong. Your clothes were too revealing, your hijab too loose, your laughter too loud, your words too flirtatious, on and on it goes. An endless list of entirely subjective violations that led up to your predicament.

The truth is even if every inch of skin is buried beneath countless layers of fabric, you are still potentially a target. Which isn’t to say you are immune from blame, far from it:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEzY5cL0Os8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

This video is crazy even by our standards, but it is just an extrapolation of the same principle.

What is even more interesting is that 62 percent of Egyptian men admitted to harassing women and 53 percent accused women of “asking for it non-verbally.” There’s a very obvious display of entitlement in their attitude that originates from the very same rules that were set up for our protection. So rather than offering safety, all they do is reinforce the idea that by deviating from this vague definition of modesty, you deserve what you get.

“Half the girls want to get harassed anyway.”

“Slutty slut sluts!! Being so slutty! Most guys are respectable!”

It seems Mona Eltahawy described it best when she said “The more women veil the less men learn to behave as decent and civilized members of society, and the more women are harassed, the more they veil thinking it will ‘protect’ them.”

Obviously this isn’t something unique to Egypt or even the Middle East. The only difference in the application of these rules is what the culture qualifies as immodest, and how many preemptive measures a woman must take in order to be considered “safe”. Either way, it seems we’re better off without the so-called protection these misguided precautions can offer us. Thanks, but no thanks.

Originally published on http://finding-hawwa.blogspot.com/

“Rape is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused.”

Let’s start by defining rape. What is rape? Rape is basically a sexual form of violence that involves sexual assault on another person, coercing them into engaging in acts of sex without their consent. In most cases, sexual offenders and rapists are male, with only rare cases of the sexual offender or rapist being a female.

So why do men rape women? Well, there’s no definite answer that could explain why but there are several reasons that I can basically think of, because there are a lot of factors involved in the act including the nature of the rapist himself, the victim and the setting in general; when and where it happened.

When rape can be sometimes impulsive, where some guy’s sexual urges reach a critical point beyond which he can consciously control; being lacking of discipline, thus giving in to his primal urges and attempting to rape the woman he’s been so prodigiously wanting, in order to achieve sexual gratification. Rape can also be an act with a purpose behind it.

How is that possible? Well… it is, as you will see in a bit.

Power rape, this is one form of rape where the man sexually assaults a woman not because of sexual urges primarily, but because rape to them is a way of compensating for their underlying feelings of inadequacy and incompetency. The act of rape itself feeds their issues of mastery, control, strength, authority and capability allowing them to think that they are able. A power rapist’s intention is to assert his competency and validate his masculinity, superiority and prowess as a male, not much brute force is used in that form of rape, it mostly relies on verbal threats and intimidation, with enough force to only subdue the victim. Usually this type of man fantasizes a lot about rape and has the belief that once they overpower the victim, that she starts to actually enjoy it, they basically NEED to believe that the victim enjoyed it.

However with this only being a fantasy, it does not really reassure the rapist of his adequacy, forcing him to find another woman to rape, and hence it becomes repetitive, leading to a series of rape incidents in a short period of time.

Anger rape, this is another form of rape where the purpose of rape is to humiliate and debase the woman. The rapist expresses contempt to the woman through the use of excessive physical violence and verbal profanity. For an anger rapist, sex is their weapon to degrade the woman, it is the ultimatum of their expression for their anger. Usually this form of rape is characterized by physical brutality, much more physical force is used during the assault than would be necessary if the intent were simply to overpower the victim and achieve penetration. He usually attacks their victim by grabbing, striking and knocking the victim to the ground, beating them, tearing their clothes, and raping them. He doesn’t have sexual conquest fantasies, he doesn’t need to know if the victim enjoyed it.

To him, rape is just his conscious expression of anger and rage. This is usually common with cases were males rape lesbians in an attempt to “correct” their sexual orientation, a process termed as ‘corrective rape’, or if we want to adopt Middle Eastern examples, a man raping a woman to force her into “correcting” herself and becoming more “Islamic”.

And last but not least, sadistic rape. This in my opinion is the sickest and most morose of all. For such rapists, the act of aggression itself is eroticized. Sexual excitement and gratification to them is associated with the infliction of pain upon their victim, and torturing them. He finds the intentional maltreatment of his victim to be sexually satisfying to him, along with the victim’s torment, anguish, helplessness and distress. Sadistic rape usually involves torture and restraint, which sometimes takes on a ritualistic nature with bizarre characteristics, the rapist may use some type of instrument or foreign object to penetrate their victim and sometimes, some sexual areas or erogenous zones of the victim’s body become a specific focus of injury or abuse.

Such a rapist’s assaults are deliberate, calculated and planned. They will often wear a disguise or will blindfold their victims. Prostitutes or other people whom they perceive to have high sexual promiscuity are often the sadistic rapist’s targets. He believes that such people should be either punished or disciplined, or that they should be introduced first hand to what he believes to be the real essence and purpose of sex.

Sadly enough, most victims of a sadistic rapist may not survive the attack, because for some of them, the ultimate satisfaction is gained from murdering the victim, and perhaps later on continuing to engage in the act of raping her body.

And with that, we conclude our short journey, where we explored and had a look on how a rapist’s mind works. I hope it was informative to all of you, especially the women out there.

So watch out, always keep that mace/taser or whatever else you have at the ready, don’t talk to strangers, and remember that trust in a person is earned, not given.

To my surprise, here are the sample of comments that followed. These are 5 comments that translate to “she deserved it,” with one generally mocking her appearance instead of commenting at all about the sexual crime.

It is not a mystery why people commonly sympathize with rapists or why sexual harassment has become prevalent in our societies, with often little to no consequences to punish the criminals who have the law and the mainstream media on their side.

Of interest, here are other examples:

Bahraini Lawyer Dismisses Rape of Asian Migrant as ‘Fun’

]]> http://www.mideastyouth.com/2011/01/09/why-does-rape-get-treated-like-a-joke-in-the-arab-world/feed/ 5 http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/10/30/domestic-violence-in-the-u-a-e/ http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/10/30/domestic-violence-in-the-u-a-e/#comments Sat, 30 Oct 2010 20:15:13 +0000 Ruwaida Shaikh (UAE) http://www.mideastyouth.com/?p=9415 disciplined' his wife and daughter-who,by the way is twenty three years old- by abusing them physically. Not a fan of abuse in any form, I considered this news to be absolutely defeating and shocking.]]> Recently, a man from the U.A.E ‘disciplined‘ his wife and daughter-who,by the way is twenty three years old- by abusing them physically. Not a fan of abuse in any form, I considered this news to be absolutely defeating and shocking. Its not everyday you hear such news in this part of the world. Its safely curbed and hidden under the thick blanket of ‘taboo’. The U.A.E supreme court took matters at hand and charged the man with a payable amount. Really? Is that all they are going to do? Apparently yes. They explained that the man of the house has all right to discipline his wife and children except physically abusing them, which is breaching the Sharia Law. Being a Muslim myself, I accept the religious reasons and rules. Sadly, I dont know if this sort of punishment is justifying the pain of all the women that had to suffer due to a man’s dominating presence in Muslim societies. Human Rights Watch researcher Nadya Khalife puts it best:

This ruling … is evidence that the authorities consider violence against women and children to be completely acceptable. Domestic violence should never be tolerated under any circumstances. These provisions are blatantly demeaning to women and pose serious risks to their well-being. The … ruling lets stand a law that is degrading, discriminatory, and outright dangerous for women and children. The UAE needs to come to grips with reality of domestic violence, repeal all discriminatory provisions sanctioning violence against women and children, enact laws that criminalize such behavior, and provide appropriate services to victims.

Via Jurist.

In the name of religion, lets not abuse our wives, girlfriends and daughters. Lets save humanity and spread peace.

]]> http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/10/30/domestic-violence-in-the-u-a-e/feed/ 3 http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/10/17/they-need-brain-wash/ http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/10/17/they-need-brain-wash/#comments Sun, 17 Oct 2010 20:35:33 +0000 Adam (Egypt) http://www.mideastyouth.com/?p=9357 It was on monday sept 27

around 3am

Egypt, Cairo, Downtown, Tahreer Squair, Talat Harb st.

We were sitting on a cafe-shop, when we saw a young boy (Kareem he is 16 and he lives in El Salam) beeing offended and called faggot and stuff by 4 adult guys,.. then one of them (Shadi he is 21 and he live in El Zaitoon)

He was vry tough big body like 185cm musculer, he suddenly slapped him on the face like mad,.. we couldnt sit still among all those heartless people on the cafe, so we ran to save the boy (me Adam 19, Muhammed 26, Suzzan 27, Sofia (from Sudan) 22) when the boy ran to some police offcier pegging him down on his knees to save him saying ” I kiss your feet, save me from those, they’re going to kill me”, then the othe guy Shady held him to beat him again, the officier tryed to stop him not after he hear ” you faggot must be killed” , my friend Muhammed started defending the boy by holding him Shadi, when that Shadi turned to Muhammed with a very strong slap on his face that reached ma face and caused ma glasses to fly away in the air, Muhammed was shocked not after he had the second strong slap on his other sid of face !! while the offciers was standing like statues !!! then Muhammed started fighting back when he had the third slap, while ma Friends was screaming and trying to stop him, screaming with that he can’t do this due to human rights,..

There was a big bang, and lots of offciers started to involve, one of them was screaming to US !!! ” SHOW ME YOUR ID NOW!!” Muhammed screamed ” YOUR SUPPOUSED TO ASK THEM FOR IT NOT US!!!” when he replaid ” SHUT THE FUCH UP AND GIVE ME YOUR ID NOW” I started to back off, while my friends strated to involve with screams ” THIS IS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS” Suzzane ” IM A MEMMBER OF A HUMAN RIGHTS COMTEE AND WE NEED TO TAKE REVENGE FROM THOSE ANIMALS NOW” after a big shouts they took Muhammed and the 16 Kareem (the victime) in the car to the police station in very violint way !! while the other guys where shouting like hell to the offciers, then they started to back off as they thought that he have any strong back ( like a big offcier who can help him out),.. Sofia was offended as a niger ! Suzanne was offended as if shes a man or woman ! and we all were offended as faggots ! I got back off to ma other friend who we left on the cafe, he is journalist, he didnt want to involve cause he was sure that we are not gonna take any positive stuation out of it !! he staretd to tell me take Suzzane and Sofia out of it cause it useless and its going to be worser if they made sure that we are homosexuals, I was afraid like hell, got back off , and tryed to call Suzzane to get off,..

They took the other guys to the police station after taking thier IDs.

We waited from 3 to 6 am when Muhammed called us and told us to come to the police station to take him.

When we went there, the Guard treated us like shit (sure he knew about it), and didn’t allow us to see him, after argue he allowed only Suzzane to go to see him,

Then Muhamed tod us wut happened inside the police station,..

They where offending them like hell, (Muhammed has a diffrent collor of cloth in his pants just under the zip as a new fashion) One of the offciers told him “Its an easy way to get fucked while u in a rush !!” and another one ” Its 50 days away from ma wife, why dunt u help me out, I’m horny” !! and Kareem the 16 years boy, THE OFFCIERS THEMSELVES BEATED HIM AND FORCED HIM TO TAKE OFF HIS PANTS to check if he’s a real cock rider !! and one of them put a lipstick in his ass !!!! (that was all infront of the guys who beated him) and the boy was crying like HELL!! Poor he is shocked for the rest of his life !!! after all, they wrote tottaly diffrent stuff in the paper !! and we had to give up cuz we were sure nothing is going to be gained out from this but shame or jail for us the victims !!!

And now we don’t feel safe anymore in our most favorite place, downtown.

Not only the government needs to be changed, also the people.

A graffiti reads, ''Death to Lot's people!'' Aka, homosexuals!

]]> http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/10/17/they-need-brain-wash/feed/ 0 http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/09/07/i-can-make-my-own-decisions-protest-the-saudi-women/ http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/09/07/i-can-make-my-own-decisions-protest-the-saudi-women/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:47:55 +0000 Ruwaida Shaikh (UAE) http://www.mideastyouth.com/?p=9030 Whats funny is that despite being into the 21st century for a decade now, some issues prevail which might confuse aliens from Mars to think residents of the Earth (aka us), still belong in the 15th Century or even earlier.

Take for instance, the state of women in Saudi Arabia. The country’s guardianship system is creating a block for women when it comes to making their own decisions. For doing humane things like studying, working or even opening their own bank account, women need to ask the permission of the closest male relative. Not only is this stamping over the essence of being human, but it is disrupting the very place of a women in the society. Society has forever held that men are at a higher position than women, but how does that give them the right to determine whats right and wrong for a women? Isn’t this world supposed to be all about equality, freedom, acceptance and understanding? Jeremy Rifkin, an author and a social thinker, claims that empathy is our greatest tool. Its our invisible hand, which moves this society along. If we don’t understand the plight of others, how are we going to understand and accept, help and support?

If Saudi Arabia claims to continue enforcing women-demeaning rules, there is some hope in the form of activist and feminist Wajeha al-Huwaider. Being a resident of the country herself, she compares the situation of the women in Saudi as that of caged birds. There have been talks about changing the face of women rights amongst the authorities but none that have actually been implemented. Wajeha al-Huwaider also insist that its easier to remain silent and take no action, as many of the women are afraid to voice their opinion. This would probably explain why a group of Saudi women launched a campaign that went against Al-Huwaider, claiming that they are perfectly fine with their male guardians making decisions for them and view this as an Islamic Law.

Whenever anyone voices an opinion, there are bound to be people who don’t necessarily agree. But what matters is that you know you’re doing what you believe in, and if you believe you’re going to change the face of the world, then maybe you are.

View CNN article here.

]]> http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/09/07/i-can-make-my-own-decisions-protest-the-saudi-women/feed/ 4 http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/08/01/aisha-taliban-and-the-women-of-afghanistan/ http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/08/01/aisha-taliban-and-the-women-of-afghanistan/#comments Sun, 01 Aug 2010 10:12:38 +0000 Ahmad H. Aggour (Egypt) http://www.mideastyouth.com/?p=8544 Aisha, 18 years old, had her ears and nose cut off last year on orders from the Taliban because she fled from her abusive in-laws. According to Time Magazine, Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years.

The vast majority of Afghanistan’s population professes to be followers of Islam. Over 1400 years ago, Islam demanded that men and women be equal before God, and gave them various rights such the right to inheritance, the right to vote, the right to work, and even choose their own partners in marriage.

However, for many years now and since Taliban had rose to power from 1996 till their fall in 2001, and women were treated worse than in any other time or by any other society. They were forbidden to work, get education, leave the house without a male escort, not allowed to seek medical help from a male doctor, and coerced into wearing burqas and the Afghan chadri, even covering their eyes. Women who were doctors and teachers before, suddenly were forced to be beggars and even prostitutes in order to feed their families.

Ever since the fall of Taliban in 2001, the situation in Afghanistan for the women had relatively improved, according to the Afghan constitution, they were able to go back to work, they were not coerced into wearing the Afghan chadri and burqas and they had even been appointed to prominent positions in the government.

Despite all these changes, violence is still exhibited against the women in many strict families, more frequently in the southern areas of Afghanistan where the Taliban has an affirmed and strong prescence. numerous schools for Afghan girls had been burnt, girls were subjected to death by poisoning or acid attacks on their faces by gangs of men for demanding to get a simple education or even dare go to school, there is STILL an increase in abuse against the Afghan women by their respective males whether husbands, brothers or fathers.

There had even been cases of self-immolation where Afghan women as young as below 20 who suffer under extremely abusive marriages they had been coerced into would desperately set themselves ablaze with a hope of dying and getting rid of their miserable lives… Yes it’s true!

This kind of abuse towards a woman is never tolerated by any human being or any individual for that matter, even Islam speaks against such violence and brutality, Women have rights in Islam! The Prophet (peace be upon him) was most emphatic in enjoining upon Muslims to be kind to their women when he delivered his famous khutba – his final sermon – on the Mount of Mercy at Arafat in the presence of one hundred and twenty-four thousand of his Companions who had gathered there for Hajj al-Wada’ (Farewell Pilgrimage). In it he ordered those present, and through them all those Muslims who were to come later, to be respectful and kind towards women. Of the things he said was:

“Treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers.”

Aisha is just one woman of many Afghan women… Who suffer daily under the oppressive extremist and un-Islamic regime of Taliban which had heavily influenced many Afghan families of little awareness and knowledge and is reflected upon how the way their respective women are treated in almost every aspect their lives.

Look at that picture!!! This is not a part of a statistic, she’s flesh and blood… A human! And my heart is with Aisha!

Hear out the crying voices and whispers of the Women of Afghanistan!

]]> http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/08/01/aisha-taliban-and-the-women-of-afghanistan/feed/ 3 http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/07/29/not-so-glamorous-the-aftermath-of-a-fashion-show-in-sudan/ http://www.mideastyouth.com/2010/07/29/not-so-glamorous-the-aftermath-of-a-fashion-show-in-sudan/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:40:40 +0000 Reem Shawkat (Sudan) http://www.mideastyouth.com/?p=8500

Recalling a 60′s experience

A.M.H was circumcised at the tender age of 9. She remembers the nitty-gritty details of this ordeal even though it has occurred over 40 years ago.

Her father, a highly-educated man was in a conference outside Sudan , he has repeatedly warned her mother and his mother, her grand-mother, of taking her to the cutter.

” My daughters will not be circumcised, this is backwards and oppressive, ” stated her father, a US- educated Sudanese professional.

The women gathered, conspired and produced a detailed plan of taking her to the cutter while her father, her only savior, was away. The plan was successful and A.M.H was pampered that day and promised a lot of sweets and toys. She was excited, she didn’t know what was in store for her.

Two women held her down with all their force and proceeded to cut a part of her body.

She remembers the blood gushing out of her , the overwhelming soreness, the inability to get up.

She wanted to get up and play, but she couldn’t move an inch. She felt disabled and helpless.

When her father came back a few days later, he figured out that something was wrong. He asked her and she told him the truth. She shared her pain with him.

It was the 1960′s and female circumcision was a widespread practice , hence, when her father announced his decision to divorce her mother for disobeying him, he was brushed off as insane.

The divorce never materialized, but female circumcision was the main cause of conflict between the young couple for the rest of their lives. It has changed their marriage as much as it changed the life of this 9 year old girl.

A.M.H is now a mother. When she married the father of her daughters in the early 80′s, they jointly made a decision to not let their daughters undergo this painful procedure. Despite protests from close family members, they’ve rejected their pleads and ignored their heartfelt advices.

Where did it come from?

Female circumcision is the excision of any part of the female genitalia. A age-old tradition passed down from the Pharaohs , it’s a popular practice in Egypt, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia. It’s also practiced in certain communities in Iraq, Yemen, Burkina Faso and Kenya.

Until very recently, the Sudanese were known for practicing the most severe type of circumcision, pharaonic circumcision or infibulation, in which all of the external genitalia is removed. However, in recent years, the least severe type, clitoridectomy, also known as sunni circumcision, has been on the rise. Pharanoic circumcision causes serious health problems and complications during pregnancy and childbirth since the sutures are cut and after the baby is delivered, the woman is sewn up again or refibulated.

According to traditional beliefs, the purpose of FC is to reduce a woman’s sexual desire to make sure that she remains a virgin until her marriage. It also aims at increasing the amount of sexual pleasure for the male partner.

However, some wholeheartedly believe that circumcision has roots in Islam.

Just a few days ago , M.S., a young Sudanese mother in her early 30′s organized a circumcision ceremony for  her 6 year old daughter in a country where FC is a crime punishable by imprisonment.

“I’ve conducted intensive research and based on this research, I believe that this practice is first and foremost an Islamic practice,” stated M.S.

Despite attempts from family and friends to intervene, M.S. used a book by an unknown Egyptian sheikh as her sole reference.

Although FC predates Islam, some scholars believe that Islam had to tolerate the practice as it was already ingrained in the society. In a hadith, the Prophet (PBUH) stated that  FC shouldn’t be excessive and harmful to the woman in question.

In modern times, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Prof Dr. Ali Goma’a announced during a meeting with ten scholars from all over the world that Muslims shouldn’t practice this custom seeing that it is a crime against humanity.

Urban Atittudes

In an attempt to understand the relevance of FC to today’s urban youth living in Khartoum and its twin cities, I was able to conduct an anonymous survey in which the participants were asked whether they are aware of the practice and  whether they are familiar with circumcised girls  and their opinion about the practice. Female participants were asked if they had undergone FC.

A.M, a 27 year old Sudanese man believes that we should distinguish between ordinary or sunna circumcision and pharaonic circumcision.

” Ordinary circumcision is common in most Islamic  and gulf countries and it protects the female from herpes and infections in the long term,” explains A.M.

A.A, a 24 year old Sudanese male agrees with A.M and adds that it’s important not only from a medical point of view, but it also ensures hygiene.

M.G , a 25 year old Sudanese  male student living in the United States believes that circumcision is a crime.

On the other hand, a young Sudanese woman working in the field of journalism stated that FC is “a traumatizing experience which can be likened to the horror of rape.”

She added that FC is based on cultural beliefs regarding a woman’s honor.

Other young Sudanese women interviewed used words such as damaging and painful to describe the practice.

From the results of my survey, I realized that Sudanese men are more aware of the different types of circumcision as opposed to Sudanese women who view FC as one barbaric practice and fail to see any variations.

What A Man Wants

In an article written by Meghan Sapp for Women-e-news, she recalls the story of a young Sudanese man, a son of a diplomat who has recently returned to Khartoum. He fell in love with a young lady and was getting ready to marry her.

He was hesitant about asking his young bride about FC so he asked her sister if she had undergone FC. The sister miscommunicated this question and the young woman panicked and before their wedding, she had the procedure performed.

The marriage didn’t last, FC was one of the main reasons to blame.

Dr. Babikar Bedri, a prominent researcher in the field of female circumcision at Ahfad University believes that there are no studies tackling how young couples discuss this issue before marriage.

According to Dr. Bedri, contrary to the old days when grooms returned their uncircumcised wives, a study carried out at Khartoum University among male students found out that 75% would like to have an un-excised future wife.

As our perceptions about a woman’s right to choice and female sexuality are changing at an alarming rate due to living in the digital age and the government’s intervention , I can’t help but wonder whether the desires of men to have an “un-circumsised” wife will play a significant role in decreasing the practice in the near future.

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