EGYPT: ARMED ON THE BUS, PINS TO WARD OFF MOLESTERS

Here's a bit of fresh air, and an act of courage by some Egyptian women. Women have started carrying large needles with which to stick male perverts who constantly paw and molest women in public. Hopefully, the women won't run afoul of Egyptian law or sharia law for defending themselves. Go girls.

FROM ANSAMED:

EGYPT: ARMED ON THE BUS, PINS TO WARD OFF MOLESTERS *** (ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 21 - A pin to ward off "the groping" of molesters who on public transportation in Cairo are bothering young Egyptian women. Veils, separate cars on the underground, and reserved or occupied spaces for females on buses are not able to reduce the number of sexual molestations against them. For this reason, many girls by now are getting on the bus, 'armed' with large pins. Many studies, wrote Egyptian weekly, Al Ahram Hebdo, have highlighted that in Egypt, more than 50% of cases of sexual attacks take place on public transport. "In comparison to other European studies - explained Racha Mohamad, researcher in the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights - it has emerged that in Europe, these abuses usually occur at work or in closed places". Groping on packed minibuses, whistles, penetrating stares, winking, and busy hands are very common in Egypt. Chaotic traffic in a capital that has about 20 million inhabitants creates interminable trips and forces victims to get on despite crowds, which creates a multitude of chances for molesters. Often, all of this occurs with the total indifference of the rest of the passengers. And the driver of a minibus can sneakily transform, into an aggressor. Pulling the gear shift can in fact be a chance to stretch out onés hand and touch a passenger's leg. After 9pm, many men get onto the underground in search of women travelling alone to molest them undisturbed. In this desolate panorama, few victims have dare to denounce their molesters due to fear of the repercussions and pressure from families who fear scandals. The first (in total there are only two), reminded the periodical, to file a lawsuit for sexual molestation to have obtained a three year prison sentence for their molester, was Noha. Exaggerations by the media, said the Egyptian first lady a few days ago, "give the impression that the streets in Egypt are unsafe, and this is not true". "Egyptian men still respect Egyptian women". Many observers believe that the country's mentality represents a real obstacle to the problem's solution: "for many - they reported - a woman who decides to get on crowded public transportation, maybe with tight clothes, already knows what she is getting into". But in expectation of a law that better protects young women, Chaimaa, 20 years old and veiled, brings a pin, the only weapon she has left to defend herself. And if a man protests? "My response - she said - is still the same: oh, excuse me, the pin that holds my veil in place must have come off". (ANSAmed).