Sex and the city 2 vs. hijabies in the city

So I watched Sex and the City 2 and wow do I have some mixed feelings about it.

First of all it's filled with stereotypes. Rich Arabs in "Abu Dhabi," dubbed the "new middle-east" which equals to "modernized." So the four ladies go to Abu Dhabi and stay at this super luxurious hotel with fancy shmancy butlers and food. The ladies are awed by the females who are at the hotel, wearing 'niqwab' which is actually supposed to be 'niqab.' I mean if you're going to make a film in an Arab country (the filmed was set in Morocco by the way) then at least get the Arabic words right.

Anyway, so they think it's funny how the niqwab-ed ladies eat french fries and poke some fun at them as well as the female swimmers in burkini's (a head to toe swimmin suit). At that same scene, however, they were talking about how pretty a girl's abaya was because of it's embroidery and this was popular among young liberal females.

Fast forward to dull, unoriginal boring scenes, (and a couple of Samanatha's disturbing scenes which I thought gave American ladies a bad image --i.e. think sexual desires at 52) and in the end you see some niqwab-ed ladies take off their head covering and abayas and are dressed in sexy stylish clothing and look hot.

Anyway, the movie emphasized that in Abu Dhabi (or any Muslim country), people dressed modestly and mixing and touching of the opposite sex is illegal (Samantha got arrested for what she was doing on the beach).

At times it portrayed Arab men as controllers, but it also showed that American men the same way as the lawyer lady (I forgot her name) kept being silenced by her male colleagues). So treatment of women was an issue in the movie, that both American, Arab, Muslim, non-Muslim females can be treated negatively and unfairly.

However, most of the strict scenes that happened in the movie, is most likely not true in a country as liberal and diverse and UAE. I mean if this movie took place in Saudi Arabia, then I'd understand.

Now, for any non-muslim who sees the movie and wonders if arab women are really like that, I'll leave you with a question. Are all american women like samantha?

It was also a bit awkward to walk out of the movie theatre after the movie was done with my friends (being all hijabi's and the movie had a bunch of stereotypes). But we wore stylish clothes, handbags, sunglasses, and walked out in confidence with our hijabs on proudly and out into the city -- Hijabies in the city.


Here's an article that critics the movie:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/sex-and-the-city-2-review_n_589155.html

It's about time!

It's about time! Sexual harassment in Egypt is crazy. It's especially embarrassing when foreign females are there and they're harassed-- do they think that these tourists are going to like Egypt more? It happens to everyone-- veiled, not-veiled, and niqab (burqa) and abaya (long, loose dress) wearing people also. It's disgusting to walk around the street in Egypt, minding your own business and you're forced to look down because if you make contact with a guy, it's a 'bad' thing and they'll assume you want to be harassed. I mean, it happens everywhere, but in Egypt, other people just watch as you're being harassed and if you tell the police near by, they don't do anything. Heck, policeman and guards even harass you! I hope this law works, come on Egypt, you can do this!

Egypt moves closer to passing sexual harassment law

Dina Zayed
CAIRO
Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:55pm EST

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt, under pressure from activists, has moved closer to passing laws to crack down on sexual harassment after overcoming initial legislative hurdles, members of parliament said on Wednesday.

World

Activists said sexual harassment has been an obstacle to women having a full economic and political role in Egypt, where a 2008 study found 83 percent of those surveyed had been sexually harassed and half said it happened daily.

The push for a change in the law gained prominence in 2008 when a truck driver was jailed for sexually harassing a woman, in the country's first case to be brought to court.

Members of parliament backing draft bills said that without a specific definition in law, penalties can be arbitrary. Activists say a law would curb harassment, an issue that can harm the image of tourism-reliant Egypt.

One bill was presented to parliament's legislative affairs committee this week and another was approved by the Justice Ministry so it can be presented to the committee in days.

MPs behind the drafts say they differ on details, such as the level of fines to be imposed, but would welcome either.

STATE RESPONDING

"It shows the state is responding and changing ... They are now understanding the significance of the issue," said Nihad Abu Al-Qumsan, head of the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights.

"There has to be a law criminalizing sexual harassment in Egypt," Abu Al-Qumsan told Reuters, referring to a need to address issues exposed in the 2008 study on harassment.

That study, conducted by Abu Al-Qumsan's independent NGO, was based on a sample of more than 2,000 Egyptian men and women and 109 foreign women. Ninety-eight percent of the foreign women said they had experienced harassment in Egypt.

Both draft bills define sexual harassment, specify its forms and assign punishments. Egypt has so far dealt with such cases under laws referring to lewd acts in public.

"I think the bill will pass, for the simple reason that it has been thoroughly studied by the government," said MP Georgette Kalini, who is sponsoring the bill that has been approved by the Justice Ministry.

The second bill, backed by MP Mohamed Khalil Qaweyta, had been derailed in a preliminary review but was now back in the legislative committee. Qaweyta said he aimed to have it on an agenda for MPs to discuss and vote on within a month.

In October 2008, Egyptian courts sentenced Sharif Gommaa to three years in prison and ordered him to pay about $950 (5,000 EGP) in compensation to Nuha Rushdi, a woman he sexually harassed. Gommaa's appeal was rejected earlier this week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G3ZS20100217