Tuesday, October 09, 2007

This is a bizarre, most misogynistic article in Al-Ahram weekly (notice that disgusting commentaries):

"Fatma El-Muallem, who does not wear hijab, says she would like to see women-only cafés downtown, in Zamalek and Heliopolis: "maybe one day there will be cinemas, malls and clubs for women only." (Is there an undertone of lesbian separatism?) Rasha Suleiman, 20, agrees: "my friends and I seldom go out now and it's because of harassment from the opposite sex." (How many rape incidents did Rasha and her friends suffer?) "I want to be able to watch football and cheer as loud as I like to," (which is presumably impossible in the presence of hordes of the sexually obsessed beasts). Quite. Nihal Mohsen, another woman without hijab and the mother of two grown children, likes being free of "the male presence" which she says always involves comments or stares; she likes it so much she comes to the café almost every day. (To hear her talking, one wonders how she ever managed to have children, but still.) Ismail is keen on pointing out that the café is ultimately a business venture, without an Islamically oriented agenda; a smoke-free space, it has provisions for children (boys up to the age of 10 are allowed in -- surely a compromise of principles?) and Internet service as well as a library. To help her organise social and cultural events, the idea being to develop a female club, Ismail has been putting together a database of customers." (thanks Ashraf)