Sexual violence in Egypt has increased under Islamist rule

If anyone still thought that wearing a burqa protects women from sexual harassment or that Islamist influence would result in men respecting women more...sorry to disappoint you:

Sexual violence against women in Egypt has increased in the post-revolutionary Islamist rule, according to official reports and rights activists.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality said in a report published on May 23 that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual violence.

Nearly 50 percent of women reported more harassment after the revolution; 44 percent said the level of harassment remained the same before and after the revolution. Meanwhile, more than 58 percent of men surveyed said harassment increased after the revolution.

Egypt's general directorate of moral police at the ministry of interior reported that 9,468 cases of harassment, 329 sexual assaults and 112 cases of rape took place in 2012.

Activists say the figures released by the government are smaller than the actual ones because many women do not report cases of harassment against them to the police in fear of shame.

The U.N. study found that only 19 percent of women actually report sexual violence against them to the police. It said 32.2 percent keep quiet and move away from the scene, while 26.9 choose to insult or hit back the assailant.

“What is different now [post-revolution], and why this has been brought to public and international attention, is that we’re witnessing a number of very violent assaults and rape,” Diana Eltahawy, a researcher at Amnesty International Egypt, told Al Arabiya English.

Manal Abdul Aziz Ali, a Cairo-based journalist said, “Today, neither a foreigner nor an Egyptian can enjoy a sense of safety... because of the noticeable rise in the rate of crime and harassment against women.”

The reported rise of sexual violence against women is often attributed to security deterioration and the rise of radical Islamists who seek to frighten women away from public places where anti-Islamist protests take place.

Salafist preacher Ahmad Mahmoud Abdullah said earlier this year that women protesting in Tahrir Square are “no red line” because they “have no shame and want to be raped,” a statement which was perceived as a sanctioning of violence against women.

Egyptian women now “have to think twice” before attending demonstrations, Abdul Aziz Ali said, “not because [women] fear tear gas or even bullets, but because of the harassment being practiced by some thugs and parties to discourage revolutionaries from participating in such events.”

The report itself includes some truly horrific statistics, such as 8% of women who are continuously harassed have attempted suicide as a result. 93.4% of the harassed women didn't even bother to tell police.

75.7% of the women who were abused say they were wearing conservative clothing and no makeup at the time of the attacks.

A commenter recently wrote about her experience in Egypt:

I am a 27 yr old female having just returned from a 9 day trip to Egypt. It was was honestly the worst holiday of my life. 90% of the men were sleazy and intimidating, and I got hassled at least every half an hour, even at the hotel (Hilton sharks bay). One of the house keepers (room service) staff even groped my boob. I chose to ignore it on the day as I did not trust the management of the hotel. A few days later when checking out, I made a formal complaint to the management at Hilton and burst out crying in the reception. I will be making a formal complaint. I can't imagine what the women of Egypt have to go through on a daily basis, and I really hope the mentality of these people changes and they learn to respect women. Absolutely unacceptable and I will certainly NOT be returning to this otherwise beautiful country unless things change.