Women protesters were forced to have 'virginity checks' after being arrested

[SoCalDem]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369259/Egypt-protests-Women-forced-virginity-checks-arrests-Tahir-Square.html?ito=feeds-newsxml


Secret shame of Egypt's army: Women protesters were forced to have 'virginity checks' after being arrested in Tahrir Square

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:10 AM on 24th March 2011


Women arrested by the Egyptian police during protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square were subjected to forced 'virginity tests', according to Amnesty International. Eighteen demonstrators were detained after army officers cleared the square on March 9 at the end of weeks of protest. Amnesty today said that the women had been beaten, given electric shocks and then subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers.

They were then given 'virginity checks' and threatened with prostitution charges if medics ruled they had had sex, according to the charity.


Detained: Eighteen women protesters were detained in Cairo's Tahrir Square and then subjected to horrific treatment, according to Amnesty International. There is no suggestion that any of the women in this photograph were arrested

Salwa Hosseini, 20, said she had been arrested and taken to a military prison in Heikstep where she was forced to strip and then searched by a female guard. She told the charity a number of male soldiers were watching through two open doors and a window and it was at that point they took photographs . Miss Hosseini then went on to describe 'virginity tests' being carried out by a man in a white coat. She claims the women were threatened with charges if they were found not to be virgins.

snip

[GKirk]

1. Yikes!

Don't tell Scott Walker about this.

[aquart]

2. Oh, such things I want to do to the men who did that.

All starting with the fine example set by Lorena Bobbitt.

[femrap]

18. ...

:toast: :thumbsup: :yourock: :woohoo: :applause: :rofl: :spray:

[roguevalley]

20. you would need an electron microscope to find their penis

my friend.

[orwell]

3. Nice to know...

...that Patriarchy is a thing of the past...

[BlueIris]

4. Misogynist.

And promoting the persistent myth of the female hymen. Yes, I know some women find they have them for a longer period of time than others, but sexually active or not, those things don't last forever. They're not like tupperware.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

11. Yep. I lost mine in a bike accident.

I would have been screwed.

[Maru Kitteh]

12. "sexually active or not, those things don't last forever. They're not like tupperware"

That's awesome. (and so true) I like it. I keep it.

[mysuzuki2]

5. How exactly can you tell if a woman is a virgin anyway?

I really don't think there is any good way. You'd think the medical personnel would explain that to these morons.

[cali]

6. do you actually think this had anything to do with checking for virginity?

[mysuzuki2]

8. Yes, you're right.

after I posted, the thought occured to me that probably these guys just want an excuse to look at naked women in humiliating circumstances. Sometimes I'm slow.

[bettyellen]

19. i think it had a lot to go with finding women they could get away with raping and abusing further...

the women whose family might not be outraged that their dughter or sister was "ruined".
I can totally belive they'd cull non-virgins from the herd so they could do whatever they wanted with them .
Its SOP, what;s not to believe. Humiliating the other women was a bonus, but Im sure it wasn;t the end of it.

[Rex]

7. Sick.

What the fuck is wrong with people? A virginity check? WTH!?!!?

[SoCalDem]

9. Most likely this was just for intimidation so they would stay home

(where they belong...according to that patriarchal bunch of thugs)..

There were not very many women in most of the protest pictures I saw, and the ones who were, were probably the "scary types" of women.. the ones who had jobs & education & were not docile stay-at-homes with 7 children under 10.

The ones who decided on the "virginity tests" probably knew the women would tell their friends & maybe women would not be in the streets protesting after that.

Society is different in the middle east..always has been and probably always will be. In 1968, a college friend had a scar on her leg, just above the knee. We asked her what happened & she said it was from being shot by an Arab.. We all laughed, but she was telling us the truth.. She was 14 when it happened, and was going to school at the American School in Beirut (her Dad was a Getty exec)..as she was getting on a bus, a man called out to her.."WHORE"!, and then she felt a stinging sensation.. she thought he threw a rock at her, but while sitting on the bus, she noticed a trickle of blood by the hem of her skirt, and told the bus driver that she was injured.. He told her to get off the bus.. She walked the remaining block or so to school and the school nurse took her to the hospital.. her parents then sent her to France to finish high school..

[Rex]

13. OMG. That is an amazing and horrible story.

I am glad your friend got out of there alive! When I was young (13), I foolishly believed I would live in the time that saw all kinds of slavery abolished around the world. I had a firebrand, yellowdog grandmother that loved to fill my head with images that will never happen in my lifetime. We still live with slavery and dominance over women in practically every corner of the world, but some treat women far worse than others. Our good friends, Saudi Arabia, didn't abolish slavery until the 1960!!! SLAVERY. And of course we could also include the Suffrage Movement and that American women were the LAST group of citizens allowed to vote. LAST.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage

Some interesting dates for those interested.



I can't believe she had to walk to school with a gunshot wound...it gives me chills just thinking about it. 14 and almost killed for being a female. :(

We live in a sick world.

[SoCalDem]

17. She was lucky..it was a small calibre and passed through the fleshy part of her lower thigh

It looked like a jagged snake-bite-y wound. She said it did not even hurt that much..

[riderinthestorm]

10. Despicable behavior by misogynistic patriarchal assholes.

I harbor no illusions that the women of Egypt are going to break free of their patriachal system anytime soon - the new military junta is determined to be Mubarak Regime II. There aren't going to be any real changes for women's rights anytime soon.

[devilgrrl]

14. Why should anyone believe an article from the Daily Mail?

??????????????

[SoCalDem]

15. I also heard it on CNN this morning.. perhaps you should call them

:rofl:

[Rex]

16. Why did someone kill a reporter that worked for the Sun with Anthrax?

Point is, strange shit happens all the time.

[seabeyond]

21. thread after thread after thread, all across the world and here in the u.s.

of the sick, perverted male

can men really, i mean REALLY not understand why .... women are pissed?

is it really beyond comprehension?

[seabeyond]

22. WHERE are the men that had these women fight for THEIR rights..... nt