Mixed Emotions

I am going to preface this post by saying that I am not asking for sympathy, nor am I complaining about life here. But what happened tonight just keeps playing over and over in my head, and while on the one hand I want to totally forget it, on the other hand, I don't want to.

Ooookay, so this post was going to be about Egypt's victory over Ghana in the Africa Cup (wooohhoooo Masr!). We watched the match on a big screen projector in the American Embassy, which wasn't where we originally wanted to end up (we wanted the more "authentic" experience), but ma'alesh (translation: no big deal). Anyway, the game was super intense, and Egypt won 1-0, so of course there was much celebration on the streets and we wanted to go out and participate. We were walking en masse to go get dinner, and like before, there were cars driving and honking, flags waving, people shouting at us from car trunks, "Masr!" There was a huge parade in the street with flags, and fire, and Carolyn, Zoe, a few of the boys, and I wanted to get closer so to try to get some of it on video. Everything started off fine, with people waving at us, and posing for the camera.

But then, I don't know exactly what happened, but this crowd of about 15 boys maybe aged 10 years old up to middle-aged swarmed around first me, and then Carolyn as well. I'm going to gloss over the details, but it was molestation. And it was repeated, and it was coming at us from every direction. I don't know how long it lasted, because it felt like forever, but eventually the American boys with us noticed, and they formed a human circle around us to try to protect us. Even that didn't stop the swarm of men, though. Finally, these older shop keepers pulled Carolyn and me into their store away from the crowd, and we stayed there for a while until the crowd passed.

There are several things about this situation that bother me a lot. First of all, the fact that it happened at all. I understand that people were excited that Egypt won (so was I! I'm no sports fan, but this was an intense game), but why would that excitement manifest itself in this way? And why was that okay? (Well, obviously the shop keepers knew that it wasn't "okay" and eventually saved us, but (1) it took them long enough and (2) it wasn't just one boy doing this-there was a swarm of them, and I'm sure that this wasn't just a one time occurrence)

Did they see me and automatically think that because I was a foreign female, I have loose morals and therefore what they did was called for? Anyone who knows me knows that that assumption is faaaaar from the truth. I try so hard not to prejudge people, so it really upsets me when I'm seen as a wealthy, "liberated" American woman, without morals, and without any respect for the culture here. I mean, I was wearing long sleeves and long pants-completely covered!

I also couldn't help but feel jealous when Scott, another member of our group, was able to just run into the crowd and join into the celebration. He was lifted up on top of one of the cars in the parade, and had a blast. In comparison, all I tried to do was take a picture and I got ambushed and violated. Both of us are American. The only difference is that he's male and I'm female. That just doesn't sit well with me. But what can, and should be done about it? Now I don't want to go on a crusade for the "liberation" of Egyptian women. First of all, if I take the "cultural relativist" approach here, it's not my place, nor should I try to impose a Western view of "liberation" on this different culture. But on the other hand...come on! No one deserves what Carolyn and I went through.

One last thing that bothered me about the situation was my automatic response afterward, when some of our group members who had seen this happen asked me if I was all right. My immediate reaction was to smile and shrug it off, like it didn't bother me. I mean, stuff like this happens here. But obviously I was NOT okay because it is still bothering me, particularly after I started loading pictures and videos from tonight onto my computer and I saw that I had the whole thing on video. You can see the swarm coming at me (while the boys in our group are still laughing and smiling because they don't realize what's going on), and then the camera angle is all over the place as I try to protect myself. When I watched that I felt sick to my stomach, and when I came back to the dorms I walked right past the dance celebration and took a shower instead. I just wish that someone else in the group hadn't just let me shrug it off and asked, "No, REALLY, are you okay?" Because, as I said at the beginning of this post, I don't like feeling that I'm asking for sympathy. I didn't want to dwell on it and bring it up again, but I wish that someone else had noticed that I was quiet for the rest of the night.

Whew. I think that's it. Anyway, while the male/female situation here continues to baffle m, I'm not going to let this experience affect the rest of my time here. I know that a majority of Egyptians are amazing, and are probably the friendliest and most welcoming people I have ever met.