Arabic scientists: sexual violence against women is part of arabic culture

[DetlefK]

http://egyptianstreets.com/2015/03/05/the-moral-epidemic-of-egypt-99-of-women-are-sexually-harassed/

96.5% of egyptian women have been sexually harassed physically at least once in their lives.

Some attribute it to the lack of education, lack of public safety, and poverty, but there’s a major focus on the societal acceptance of sexual harassment as being one of the main drives behind its growth in our society. The streets witness a high level of tolerance towards sexual harassment especially when it comes to justifying the act.

...

With societal acceptance of sexual harassment reaching critical levels, and public spaces being rendered as unsafe spaces for women of all ages, harassment is sometimes used as a tool to serve other goals. This was obviously seen in mob assaults on female activists and protesters back in 2011 in order to prevent and scare them from participating in 25th Jan revolution.

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Nearly half of the male population who were involved in the study blamed women for their tight clothing when asked about the reason behind harassing them. Furthermore, 37.1 percent said that women wanted to be harassed, and were asking for it.

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http://www.bento.de/politik/in-vielen-arabischen-laendern-gibt-es-regelmaessig-sexuelle-gewalt-gegen-frauen-wie-kommt-das-245309/
(article in german)

The image Arabs have of western women is based on a misunderstanding of western culture. They see the sexualization of the female body and the sexual self-determination of women and they read this as any western woman being down to fuck.

During the Arab Spring protests in Egypt, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi (the current President) ordered egyptian soldiers to grab the crotches of female protesters, supposedly to see if they are still virgins. And this vaginal penetration was officially somehow supposed to protect these female protesters from being raped.

About a third of moroccan women are regularly subjected to violence. Marital rape is not a crime in Morocco.

In Saudi-Arabia, house-maids regularly get raped and mistreated.

A 24yo norwegian woman was raped in the UAE. And when she reported it to the police, they arrested her for lewd sexual behavior. She almost went to jail for being raped.

According to the british-egyptian sociologist Shereen El Feki, the sexual assaults aren't primarily about sex. They are about men dominating and denigrating women. They are about men proving to themselves and other men how manly and strong they are.

According to the lebanese literary-scientist Samira Aghacy this behavior has been taught to men for generations. In arabic comics, books, movies the man is always the hero, the protector of the family. (Similar to western culture.)

Men get raised with the expectation to show their male dominance by being rich, being strong, being heroes, being providers. This clashes with the extreme youth-unemployment in arab countries. These young men cannot show their male dominance by showing off with a good job or with money. They simply cannot afford to prove their manliness.
So they demonstrate the dominance of their gender in a different way. With sexual violence.

But it's not only material impotence. The increasing interconnection of the global society shows these men how little political power they have, how little they can do to make their home-country a better place, how politically impotent they are.
And in the face of this impotence and frustration they need a way to show to themselves and to other men that they are still manly, dominating men who call the shots.



There is one glimpse of hope: Women right's movements are gaining steam in the arabic world and the younger generations start to question the traditional gender-roles.



Sources for the second article:
http://www.igfm.de/frauen-unter-der-scharia/
https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/egypt_report.pdf
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/18/sexual-violence-egypt-women-report-shereen-el-feki
http://kvinfo.org/news-and-background/sexual-harassment-urban-phenomenon