Gender Politics: Bodies in Public Spaces
"A lot of males in the streets
A lot of males in the bars
A lot of males everywhere and all the time!
No one but them after sunset
How sad this sunset is: it hides the sun, and women!
It forebodes of sad nights!"
This Comics strip from "Al Shakmanjiyah", a feminist comics magazine recently published in Egypt, features a tongue-in-cheek take on the harassment in the streets. Forced to evolve biologically in order to protect herself and "adapt", the modern Egyptian woman loses her hair and develops additional eyes to see behind, in front of her as well as to her side; she grows a number of arms to defend herself; her throat and mouth grow so her screams can be better heard; and in a natural selection and adaptive evolution manner, her ears get atrophied to no longer hear insults and harsh language when strolling down the streets of Cairo!
Another strip from the same magazine, "Al Shakmanjiyah", which means jewelry box in Arabic, features the latest fashion for the Arab woman: a woman chooses to box herself deliberately to protect herself from the probing eyes of male strollers on the streets of Cairo. The self-imposed cardboard box also allows her some freedom, by avoiding another trap, that of the endless demands and pressure of fashion, which "box" her in a different way.