After our recent article about the catcalling incident in Hana Elzahed’s new show “Ana w Heya“, people started flooding our comments section about how much we exaggerate when it comes to sexual harassment in Egyptian dramas and that catcalling isn’t “that big of a deal”.
TV shows are an important part of our lives and they play a huge role in shaping our culture whether we realize it or not. Egyptian dramas, as entertaining as they are, they sometimes make us feel very iffy and confused. How do producers ever think sexual harassment could be funny or appropriate to put out?
Look, we know that’s a big problem we need to tackle but in order to do that we need to address the bigger problem we are facing now. We are the problem. Yes, you heard it right. We are here to discuss why we are a huge part of the problem.
Thinking It’s Part of the Plot
Let’s agree to something. If you want to include sexual harassment scenes in a show, you have to proceed with caution. It can’t just be for the sake of the plot; it has to be done right. Don’t turn it into a joke or even worse, use it as a way of flirting. It should be used to spread awareness against harassment, don’t you agree?
If the idea here is to “sprinkle” in some sexual harassment and hope people “don’t get the wrong impression”, then we are sorry but we can’t let it slide.
Thinking It’s Fiction and Not a Real-Life Experience Women Face on a Daily Basis
Some people watch these shows and think “that doesn’t happen in real life” and to those people, we would like to say “ARE YOU LIVING UNDER A FREAKIN ROCK?”. Some of these shows are based on real-life events and traumas.
If you ask any of the women in your life, we guarantee you they each have experienced some form of sexual assault at least once in their life, so maybe try to be a little more empathetic.
Thinking You Can’t Do Real Change
“Adjust to the discomfort, instead of trying to change it” is the mindset of some people when it comes to this sexual harassment, but they couldn’t be further from the truth. We can make anything happen if we stick together. Have we learned nothing in the past couple of years? Egyptians can do anything they set their mind to.
Women Normalizing Harassment in TV Shows
This is by far the most disturbing reason like we can’t even comprehend it. Men thinking “it’s no big deal” is messed up enough as it is, but men don’t have to endure the discomfort women feel on the street. But WOMEN defending the shows and saying “it wasn’t their intention” is quite baffling, what has this world come to?
