Ahmed, comedy is great but not everything is an appropriate subject for comedy. Did you think the Danish cartoons about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) were funny???

@ Ethar: Be my guest; we’ve “Bata Stores” for that matter

@ Mary: You hit the nail on the head by the last phrase regarding justifing their behavior but majority don’t understand this. You’ll find those problems at every nation’s backyard due to how we ‘precive’ women in general everywhere.

I am not a Muslim and living in the US and I am all for Americans looking into our own backyard to get rid of our sexism. I think we can do better than just saying that women were “asking for it” based on how we’re dressed, and I am sick of harrasment going on here. Or thinking that just because we’ve made a certain amount of progress when it comes to gender issues we should just stop right here, yep, all problems solved. I also hate stereotypes and don’t think sexist jokes being pervasive in the media is a trivial thing either, because there are always those people who don’t think it’s a joke and it justifies some people’s behavior in their mind.

good post all together.

@ Hicham: If I may add: “tegry wara bel shebsheb kaman”

@ Salma: And what was the reaction? Nothing

@ Chris: Yes, it often gets physical too. And if the woman ever does anything, people look at her in shock for daring to say anything…she should suffer in silence.

@ Lozah: Shukran! I’ve missed writing on here, walahi. Yes, I have seen the Birell ads, and I actually wrote a post about them on MMW a year ago. You can read it here:
A Girl’s Personality is the Last Thing you Notice More importantly, read the comments.

And I know what you mean about harassment making you sad just as much as it makes you angry. Here’s hoping it’ll change one day.

I really do think we need to look at the underlying causes here. Why is it that there are certain places where we know we’ll never get harassed? Why is it that all harassers seem to belong to a certain socio-economic class? It’s not just as simple as saying “they’re poor and unemployed so this is how they get their kicks”. That’s just one factor, coupled with a lack of sound religious education, coupled with gender segregation and a twisted perception of women that they probably get in their own homes. Anyway, sorry for the incoherent thoughts, I’m just thinking out loud…

@Chris: Yeah it occasionally gets physical with Egyptian women as well, and even sometimes with veiled women, but in different ways. My experience has been that with Egyptian and/or veiled women harassers tend to me more subtle so that if she responds negatively (e.g. starts yelling at him or screaming bloody murder, which some women do, bless them) he can play dumb.

Honestly, this issue really bothers me, not just because it’s personally annoying to experience harassment, but more because I’m really sad for the state of the Ummah! Sometimes I just want to give those men a lecture on the behaviour of the Prophet PBUH so they can be ashamed of themselves.