I logged onto their website<\/a>, and although a little busy and uses images of women that are in no way representative of Egyptian women (Muslim or otherwise), it has had over 25,000 unique visitors in less than four months.<\/p>\n And with over 2,000 members on their facebook group<\/a>, they must be doing something right. Banat w bas\u2019s<\/em> slogan is \u201cThe first station \u2018for girls only\u2019 in the Arab world.\u201d On their \u201cAbout Us\u201d page (which is titled \u201cWhy girls in particular?\u201d) the station\u2019s founder, 25-year-old Computer Science graduate Amani El-Tunsi, writes:<\/p>\n \u201cI wish I can talk to people who understand me and speak to my mind. Who treat me as an independent entity who feels and thinks and dreams. In the street I want to hide from the eyes of men. Sometimes I feel that I am being punished for being a girl. In the taxi the driver stares at me in the mirror. If it\u2019s crowded [men] use it as an excuse to touch me\u2026Oh, I forget, I am a girl!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In big bold letters they write: \u201cThis is not a way to live!!\u201d<\/p>\n It is this frustration with the double standards of Egyptians society and the apathy of many Egyptian women to change their situation that drove El-Tunsi to start the station. In an interview<\/a> with the English-language Daily News Egypt<\/em>, she said:<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to reach out to other girls after witnessing how superficial a lot of them have become. They are only interested in hijab styles and make-up. It seemed that girls don\u2019t work on improving themselves and consider marriage to be the ultimate goal. They think if they are married, they are successful.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And although her statement lumps Egyptian women into one category, there is something to be said for her critique.<\/p>\n There are currently 30 people working at the station, and 10 of them are men. Two of them have a counter show titled \u201cTayeb! Wellad we Bas<\/em>\u201d (Fine! Boys Only) to respond to the rest of the show\u2019s programming.<\/p>\n Out of almost two dozen programs, the most popular ones are \u201cThis is not a way to live!\u201d \u201cScrew you all,\u201d and \u201c[Equivalent to] 100 men.\u201d<\/p>\n And even though some programs may seem frivolous to some (example: \u201cHow to be a model\u201d is a show dedicated to Muslim women who wear the headscarf, advising them on how to become a \u201cHijab Model\u201d), with the station shying away from the sensitive trio (Religion, sex and politics), there\u2019s no denying that each show appeals to a certain segment of listeners.<\/p>\n And just like there are shows about fashion and how to tell if a boy really likes you, there are also shows that vent about the patriarchal society Egypt is, and how to change it.<\/p>\n I would like to see the station try and tackle some more thorny issues though. According to El-Tunsi:<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not qualified to talk about these issues. As for politics we don\u2019t discuss it but we will discuss its social implications; regarding religion, I wanted the station to be for both Muslims and Christians and I felt we will not be able to present both in the station; and sex, well \u2026 we live in a conservative society and talking about sexual issues will give people the wrong idea about us, we would be misunderstood.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But even though they\u2019re not taking the initiative with regards to \u2018tricky\u2019 subjects, they are in other ways. The station has launched a \u201cWe don\u2019t have unemployment\u201d campaign, which aims to provide youth with contacts to training centers that provide them with necessary skills they need in the job market.<\/p>\n So what has the media reaction been like?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen a couple of articles, one at IslamOnline<\/a> and one in the controversial Rosa Le Youssef<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and both have been pretty positive (though the title of the latter :\u201dThe station tackles \u2018Eib*<\/em> topics\u201d raised my hackles).<\/p>\n I called up El-Tunsi (who very kindly answered her phone just after midnight) and she told me that the media has been surprisingly positive. I asked her what media outlets have covered the stations and I was stunned by the list.<\/p>\n Three out of Egypt\u2019s four main news programs on local and satellite channels have featured the show (Al-Beit Beitak<\/em>, Al-Qahera al-yom<\/em>, Al-\u2018ashera masa\u2019an<\/em> [This home is your home, Cairo Today, 10pm]) as well as a multitude of local newspapers and magazines such as Shabab<\/em> (Youth) and Sayedaty<\/em> (My Lady) magazines.<\/p>\n The international media has also been paying attention: Rotana, BBC, German Radio and \u201csomeone in Barcelona and someone in Washington\u201d El-Tunsi told me.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning [the press] reported that we were a bunch of anti-men women, but once they listened to the programs and realized that we had a goal and a mission, they changed their tune.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But one has to wonder if the \u2018girl only\u2019 theme is a reason that catapulted the station into the spotlight. Partly true, acquiesces El-Tunsi. But, she says:<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a bunch of women from different backgrounds who believe in what we say completely. We don\u2019t want to just rant; we want to bring about change. We speak the way youth speak today. We\u2019re real.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Good on them!<\/p>\n *A uniquely Arabic word that encompasses the words rude, honor, shame, and wrong. When someone oversteps certain limits they are told \u2018Eib<\/em>!\u2019 Kind of like \u201cyou should be ashamed of yourself, this is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAudio blogging\u201d is the new \u2018it\u2019 thing in Egypt. Cheap and censorship-free in a country where the airwaves are controlled by the government, it\u2019s not hard to understand its appeal. There are many new web radio stations out there, but perhaps one of the most interesting is Banat w bas, Girls Only, which began streaming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":411,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,18],"tags":[90,173,390,522,1459],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musicradio","category-web","tag-amani-el-tunsi","tag-banat-w-bas","tag-egypt","tag-girls-only","tag-web-radio"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/10\/banat-fb-3.jpg\")
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