In Egypt, women’s rights groups are pushing back against some Islamists’ attempts to blame women for an upsurge in sexual harassment.
Post-revolution, the number of women reporting sexual harassment and violence has skyrocketed. So, too, it appears, has the tendency to blame women for the assaults against them.
Psychologist Farah Shash, of the Nadim Center for Victims of Violence, says Egyptian society is becoming increasingly conservative and patriarchal.
“The society always blames the victim. She is the one to be blamed because she is dressed ‘inappropriately’ or she walks ‘inappropriately’ or she laughs loudly, or just because she is on the street when she got harassed,” Shash explained. . .