Mass sexual assault in Egypt
Tahrir Square, Cairo, where hundreds of women have been sexually assaulted
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| Activism | HARASSmap, Operation Anti Sexual Harassment |
| Related | Sexual assault, sexual violence, gang rape |
The mass sexual assault of women in public has been documented in Egypt since 2005. Typically acting under the protective cover of large gatherings, assailants encircle a woman while outer rings of men deter rescuers. The attackers regularly pretend to be there to help the women, adding to the confusion. Women have reported being groped, stripped, beaten, bitten, penetrated with fingers and raped. The attacks have been described in Egypt as the "circle of hell."
Mass sexual assault has played a controversial role in Egyptian politics. In May 2005 Egyptian security forces and their agents were blamed for using it during political demonstrations in Tahrir Square, Cairo, as a weapon against female protesters. The behavior spread, and by 2012 sexual assault by crowds of young men was regularly seen at protests and religious festivals in Egypt.
Commentators say the attacks reflect a misogynist ideology that penalizes women for leaving the house, seeks to terrorize them out of public life, and views sexual violence as a source of shame for the victim, not the attacker.
Harassment is known in Egypt as taharrush (تحرش). Sexual harassment is taharrush jinsi (تحرش جنسي), a term in use since at least the 1950s, according to the political scientist As'ad AbuKhalil. During a training session in Cairo in 2012, an anti-harassment group discussed 14 forms of taharrush, including "group or mass taḥarrush" (التحرش الجنسي الجماعى), or taharrush jamai.
Sexual harassment was barely discussed in Egypt before 2006. The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights sought to draw attention to it, but the public's response was that it was an American idea wrongly applied to Egyptian society.
Mass sexual assault was first documented during the Egyptian constitutional referendum on 25 May 2005, on what became known as "Black Wednesday," when women demonstrators were sexually assaulted by a group of agents provocateurs, groups of men who had arrived on buses, as police watched and did nothing to intervene.
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