“WOMEN ARE PEOPLE TOO”
We all live in 21st century, where almost everyone is talking about democracy and human rights however, those are not followed in each country. Therefore, the question about human rights is to be discussed. There are still some countries, which do not take into consideration the rights of women, who suffer from the patriarchy. In this paper I am going to discuss this issue on the example of Egypt.
Egypt has been trying to change their perception in the world in last three years. This country did not want to be “the third world” anymore, so people started to express their minds about their human rights. However, it is not possible to change the mentality of the whole population with just few words written on a piece of paper. One of the issues, which is hard to change is the women harassment.
Alaa Al Aswany criticized Egyptian mentality by saying: “If the young man had been a thief or a murderer, would they have shown the same degree of empathy and forgiveness? If the young man had been a Copt, a Baha'i or a Shiite, and criticized Islam in an unacceptable (to them) manner, would they be so forgiving? Or would they publicly beat him and demand he be put on trial? We all know the answer.” Alaa Al Aswany explains with these words that sexual harassment was not considered as a serious crime in Egypt for many years. The most shocking and provoking is that the society and government insisted that it was only woman’s fault if she had been raped. The major idea behind that was that it was her fault, and she provoked a man to behave like that.
It is even hard to believe that the society might think that a woman could provoke a man to cause her pain and humiliate her. It is hard to believe that women are psychos, who like to be abused. This is just an absurd, and society has to think that women have their own feelings, and they do not want to be an instrument to serve men and to be their toys for sexual pleasure. However, this was a huge problem for many decades. A woman could not even open her mouth and tell how everything happen in reality, what she felt at this moment. She was not the victim of a man’s aggressive behavior; she was the one, who caused his aggression. Is not it an absurd?
According to the 2013 UICEF report about the situation in Egypt, women are abused in many ways: religiously, socially, and economically. Women have no equal rights with men, they cannot study in the Universities, they are not able to get a driving license, and they are still ignored by the government. The situation with sexual harassment did not change anyhow; women are still blamed for men’s aggression, and women do not get any moral support from the society.
According to recent statistics (after 25th of January revolution): 48.9% of women said that sexual harassment has increased, 44% of women said that nothing has been changed, and 7% of women said that it decreased. Moreover, those women had been asked about the most common area, they were exposed to harassment, and 54.5% of women said the chest, 13.5% of women said the buttocks, and 7% of women said the entire body.
The latest movie “678” reflects all these problems in Egypt. It faced a very controversial reception among the audience and the critics in Egypt. Many viewers denied the possibility of the story to be true, while others were very encouraged by the topics that the film brought. The reaction followed by a lawsuit addressing the film director, accusing hum of incitement to violence and damage to country’s image. It even resulted in attempts to prohibit the release of the film in foreign countries. Luckily, all of the trials ended in favor of the director. As history shows, it is not unusual in Muslim society to experience the issues of sexual harassment and repression for women. For instance, in 1997 research, Janet Afary claims that the history of women being repressed and the lawsuits being ignored are perceived as part of everyday life.
What is also remarkable about the film is that the scenes of the film were based on various cases that took place in real life. All the examples of violence and sexual harassment, which were portrayed in the film, were based on the true stories.
Mohammed Diab tackles inappropriate behavior and disguised misogyny in the Muslim mentality. The director manages to illustrate the issue by taking on the stories of three women with different social backgrounds and personalities.
The plot evolves around three central characters, who are the three women who have experienced sexual harassment in different forms. The first woman is Fayza, a representative of working class, who has experienced sexual harassment in the form of groping on a bus. The second is Seba, who is an upper-class citizen who was a rape victim in the past and now runs a self-defence course. Lastly, the third character is Nelly, a comedian who managed to escape the sexual harassment on the street.
The point where the characters become “heroes” is when Seba encouranges the two other women to finally take a stand. Even though the way the other women react is drastically different, the actions that they eventually took represent the strength and bravery, which women find inside themselves.
As the plot unfolds, we meet the men that participate in the women’s lives. The way they respond to the women’s problems portrays the main issues in today’s Egyptian society. Fayza’s husband shows wrath when responding to his wife’s struggle. Nelly’s fiancé takes her side and supports her. Finally, Seba’s husband distances from his wife’s problems and does not want to interfere.
Based on the men’s reaction to the women’s fight for justice, we can assume that the “demons” in the story are indifference and blindness. Men take their privilege in the Muslim world for granted, while completely ignoring the needs and feelings of the women. The feeling of apathy towards others, regardless of their gender is what rules the anger and disrespect.
The director does a thorough job describing the characters’ lives and causes of their actions. Eventually, when the viewer “hears out” all of the sides of the story, we can conclude that the there is another “daemon”, which is a chance of salvation. There is a possibility of change in the Muslim society and the director portrays it in a form of a sympathetic police officer. However, he does imply that there is a long way to completely eradicate this scar on the Egyptian society.
Another feature of the film is that the problems that the director portrays are not made up, and it can even be confirmed by outside research. It is stated in multiple articles that Muslim women are more likely to develop stress and other mental illnesses caused by sexual harassment.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abol-Qomsan, Nihad. Egyptian Women's Status Report in 2013. Egyptian Center For Women's Rights, 2014.
Afary, Janet. "The War Against Feminism in the Name of the Almighty: Making Sense of Gender and Muslim Fundamentalism." New Left Review, 1997: 89-110.
Alaa, Al Aswany. "Sexual Harassment in Egypt." Al Monitor, November 2012.
Diab, Mohamed. 678. Directed by Mohamed Diab. Performed by Bushra, Nelly Karim and Maged El Kedwany. 2010.
Douki, S., S. Ben Zineb, and F. Nace. "Women's mental health in the Muslim world: Cultural, religious, and social issues." Journal of Affective Disorders 102, no. 1-3 (2007): 177-189.
El-Hennawy, Noha. 678: Sexual harassment in a movie. 2010. http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/678-sexual-harassment-movie.
Heine, Adel. Controversial Egyptian movie 678 wins several awards. October 22, 2012. http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2012/10/22/controversial-egyptian-movie-678-wins-several-awards/.
