The article remembers what Alexandria used to be like:
1950s Alexandria: a time of elegance and opennessAt that time, Alexandria was a multicultural city, inhabited by Egyptians alongside Greeks, Italians, Levantines, and Jews. This diversity gave it a rare cosmopolitan character, reflected in its streets, cafes, cinemas, libraries, and even in advertising itself, which could appear in three languages (Arabic, French, and English).Summer in Alexandria was an annual event that everyone awaited, as families from Cairo moved to Rasif al-Raml, Stanley, and al-Asafir, and the beaches were crowded with children and women in beachwear, while horse-drawn carriages roamed the city's quiet streets.
So what happened?
Political Islam happened.
Places that were relatively tolerant became, over time. places of oppression - especially for women. Women can wear bikinis in Egypt, but only in private beaches and hotel pools where there is security. Outside of those spots, women are routinely sexually harassed in Egypt - some 90% of women under 30 report being sexually harassed in the previous 12 months, with most of them saying it happens regularly. And when done in public, no one steps in to stop it.
When women are forced to cover up, more of them are harassed - even when Islamists claim that covering their bodies protects the women.
You can be sure that women were safer in public beaches in Alexandria in the 1950s than they are in Egyptian cities today while covered up. But everyone is so frightened of the Islamists that they don't fight back.
This poster is unthinkable today.
The idealized woman depicted in the poster was safer, more secure and more free than any woman in Egypt today.
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