Flirting With Jail? 400 Egyptian Teens Arrested For Flirting

November 20, 2008

A not-so-playful police sting in Cairo netted about 400 teenage boys accused of flirting with girls. Just yesterday, law enforcement rounded up the underage wannabe-seducers in front of schools, universities, or other public places where teens hang out. The teens will most likely face fines.

While a crackdown on innocent flirting seems oppressive, something beyond prudish attitudes motivated the sting. Egyptian women deal with an extraordinary amount of sexual harassment and assault in public. In Egypt, two-thirds of men admit to harassing women in public.

Last month, an Egyptian court handed down a sentence of hard labor and three years in jail for a man convicted of groping a woman in public. Now it looks like officials want to teach younger males a lesson before they graduate from flirting to groping. Do you think the Casanova roundup will work?

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22 Comments

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

There are some truly special and charming people in the world, Martini. So icky.

MartiniLush 4 years 26 weeks

OMG - Jude! :jawdrop: I cannot believe anyone would say that to you!!!

MartiniLush 4 years 26 weeks

OMG - Jude! :jawdrop: I cannot believe anyone would say that to you!!!

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

My all-time favorite *sshole classic is still "What kind of Asian are you? I love Asian women!" That should be a jailable offense, too.

bastylefilegirl 4 years 26 weeks

I wish they would arrest men in America for flirting or at least flirting badly: " Am I dead, Angel? Cause this must be heaven!" "Hello, I'm a thief, and I'm here to steal your heart." "Excuse me, but is that dress felt? Would you like it to be?" All jailable offenses!

Shadowdamage 4 years 26 weeks

"Haha me too GS. If women are going to be burdened with the responsibility of being chaste, then men should have to respect that and leave women alone." Well said. My first initial reaction was I was going to read about a bunch of girls being punished for "enticing" the guys (you know, by wearing a braclet or smiling or something :p), but when I read it was guys being arrested I began to hope it was just rounding up younger dudes acting out of line.

Shadowdamage 4 years 26 weeks

"Haha me too GS. If women are going to be burdened with the responsibility of being chaste, then men should have to respect that and leave women alone."Well said. My first initial reaction was I was going to read about a bunch of girls being punished for "enticing" the guys (you know, by wearing a braclet or smiling or something :p), but when I read it was guys being arrested I began to hope it was just rounding up younger dudes acting out of line.

zeze 4 years 26 weeks

Exactly austerity, for example, fashion was so important over there to the people who could afford it. Even the guys, no one who can afford not walks around in average jeans and a t-shirt, the guys wore long pants even in 110 degree weather and accessorised beyond belief, matching belt, shoes, watch, all to a shade in their t-shirt (it would either be seen as "flamboyant" or weird here) and the girls I was really amazed at, the ones who wore head scarves had layers upon layers on in that heat!!! to create patterns that matched their clothes, the purse, shoes were something so matched that they probably can't be worn with anything else, and TONS of make up. The girls without the head scarves were even more surprising, as I saw most in jeans and teenie t-shirts with all the accessories, or some where even in knee length skirts or capris - I was amazed at this since it seemingly wasn't okay for guys to wear shorts.One thing that I thought was really cool was at one point I was standing in a store with a woman in a tank top with her bra straps (yellow to match her shoes and jewelry) hanging out, and another woman in a full burqa - i thought it was kind of cool how both were so normal and so accepted. From what I saw, they were more tolerant than many parts of the US and that was something I was totally not expecting.

zeze 4 years 26 weeks

Exactly austerity, for example, fashion was so important over there to the people who could afford it. Even the guys, no one who can afford not walks around in average jeans and a t-shirt, the guys wore long pants even in 110 degree weather and accessorised beyond belief, matching belt, shoes, watch, all to a shade in their t-shirt (it would either be seen as "flamboyant" or weird here) and the girls I was really amazed at, the ones who wore head scarves had layers upon layers on in that heat!!! to create patterns that matched their clothes, the purse, shoes were something so matched that they probably can't be worn with anything else, and TONS of make up. The girls without the head scarves were even more surprising, as I saw most in jeans and teenie t-shirts with all the accessories, or some where even in knee length skirts or capris - I was amazed at this since it seemingly wasn't okay for guys to wear shorts. One thing that I thought was really cool was at one point I was standing in a store with a woman in a tank top with her bra straps (yellow to match her shoes and jewelry) hanging out, and another woman in a full burqa - i thought it was kind of cool how both were so normal and so accepted. From what I saw, they were more tolerant than many parts of the US and that was something I was totally not expecting.

austerity 4 years 26 weeks

~zeze: in fact, you will see such behavior in a much more pronounced fashion than here at home because teens in such countries feel extra pressure to prove to their peers how 'modern and western and cool' they are whereas in America or in other Western countries, that's just the way you are. I sadly feel that a lot of teens and young people in countries in the Middle East, but also the Far East and South Asia, are in a sad state of identity crisis where the own culture is referred to as 'ethnic' by the natives themselves!

Jessiebanana 4 years 26 weeks

Haha me too GS. If women are going to be burdened with the responsibility of being chaste, then men should have to respect that and leave women alone.I approve of this.

Jessiebanana 4 years 26 weeks

Haha me too GS. If women are going to be burdened with the responsibility of being chaste, then men should have to respect that and leave women alone. I approve of this.

Great Sommelier 4 years 26 weeks

I was all pissed off through half of the article about to comment on how oppressive that is, then I get to the sexual harassment part and have to rethink my position.

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

*taught to men here, I mean.

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

*taught to men here, I mean.

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

I think you're right, zeze. And on that note, I would like the same lesson (that unwanted "flirting" is just annoying and harassing) to men here.

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

I think you're right, zeze.And on that note, I would like the same lesson (that unwanted "flirting" is just annoying and harassing) to men here.

zeze 4 years 26 weeks

Ya Jude, I think there must be something lost in translation here, I have been to Egypt for a vacation and I was AMAZED by what I saw - it was not at all how I expected a Middle Eastern country to be, girls and guys hung out together at McDonald's, Pizza Hut, H & M, and walking around the mediterranean coast as late as 2-3am - and I'm talking young kids here (15-18) listening to music, eating ice cream and yes, flirting. And this was VERY VERY common, not just some random group or in one city - it was everywhere we went. In fact we went to a mall called City Star where the cafeteria area was FILLED, like no seats available filled with teenagers, both guys and girls sitting around acting a lot like American teens - sure we did not see in your face making out but a lot of teeny stuff for sure. I think this is more about young teenagers harassing young girls with unwanted attention that isn't bad enough to be called harassment or isn't annoying enough for the girls to complain - but it is the type of behavior that will develop into groping/rape/physical harassment - and they are trying to get them before they grow into it. My only complaint is that I think they need something other than punishment - this may even backfire and turn into the "cool" thing to get caught for - what they need is different ideologies, different social norms being preached in television, movies, government laws (fines), and in education. They need to understand "flirting" when the other side doesn't want to flirt is not acceptable.

zeze 4 years 26 weeks

Ya Jude, I think there must be something lost in translation here, I have been to Egypt for a vacation and I was AMAZED by what I saw - it was not at all how I expected a Middle Eastern country to be, girls and guys hung out together at McDonald's, Pizza Hut, H & M, and walking around the mediterranean coast as late as 2-3am - and I'm talking young kids here (15-18) listening to music, eating ice cream and yes, flirting. And this was VERY VERY common, not just some random group or in one city - it was everywhere we went. In fact we went to a mall called City Star where the cafeteria area was FILLED, like no seats available filled with teenagers, both guys and girls sitting around acting a lot like American teens - sure we did not see in your face making out but a lot of teeny stuff for sure.I think this is more about young teenagers harassing young girls with unwanted attention that isn't bad enough to be called harassment or isn't annoying enough for the girls to complain - but it is the type of behavior that will develop into groping/rape/physical harassment - and they are trying to get them before they grow into it.My only complaint is that I think they need something other than punishment - this may even backfire and turn into the "cool" thing to get caught for - what they need is different ideologies, different social norms being preached in television, movies, government laws (fines), and in education. They need to understand "flirting" when the other side doesn't want to flirt is not acceptable.

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

He better watch out that Angela Merkel doesn't turn around and rat him out for the shoulder massage then ;)

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 26 weeks

I am preeeety sure that Pres lame duck bush ratted them out. I sawl him do it.

Jude C 4 years 26 weeks

I certainly hope the prosecution/penalties are based on whether the girls were receptive and flirting back or not. I wouldn't have any problem with the prosecution of harassing behavior.

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