No matter how many times you hiss at me I'm probably not going to sleep with you

As much as I'm enjoying my time in Tunisia, there is one thing that seriously bothers me about traveling in this part of the world: the constant sexual harassment.

Its pretty much impossible to walk down the street here and not get blatantly stared at/verbally harassed. Since I have fairly dark hair and am not super pale its not particularly bad for me, but for any blond haired/blue eyed female I've heard it can be awful. Indeed Tunisa/Morocco are supposed to be good compared to Cairo, where I've heard of really miserable stuff like women being fondled.

I think the easiest way to describe the way it feels is that you are a constantly a sexual object. No matter where you go, you get constant attention for your gender. Its really unfortunate and in Morocco it even stopped me from going places by myself. Here I've learned to deal with it a lot better, and have realized that you just have to ignore it and move on. That said, sometimes its just so frustrating. I was riding a bus the other day and some asshole teenager (who had been staring at me the whole time) touched my face as he was getting off at his stop. I responded as any mature adult would by giving him the swear finger. He then started making obscene gestures and hit the bus as it was leaving. Today when I was walking around a police officer started hissing at me. Dealing with stuff like that when you are just going about your daily business gets so old. All you want is to just do your thing in the world and be left alone but it doesn't happen.

When I was in Morocco last year I thought it was a special treatment reserved for foreigners, but I've recently learned that even local women deal with it as well. A Tunisian friend of mine was telling me the other day about the obscene things men say to here on a regular basis. This is all backed up by the little research I've done as well- a survey done in Egypt by the Center for Women's Rights found that 98% of foreign women and 83% of local women have experienced some form of sexual harassment.

I've had discussions here about why its a problem and what should be done about it. I don't know if anyone remembers the Lara Logan controversy, but a lot of the debate surrounding her attack focused on Islam and the treatment of women. Full disclosure: I'm not an expert on either of those issues, and I can't say I'm really the most qualified to talk about it. That said, I've now dealt with this for two summers (and been a woman all my life) so I'm going to give my opinion.

I think the treatment of women here is related to cultural norms and what is considered acceptable. It is impossible to talk about the culture of the Near East and not talk about Islam- so of course the debates become muddled. Indeed, I challenge you to think of a problem in the Near East that someone doesn't blame on Islam. That said, I don't think there is anything intrinsic to Islam that causes the harassment I face on a daily basis. Muhammad himself treated his wives with great respect. One of them, Aisha, was even a leader in one of the great battles in Islamic history.

Indeed, one of the best articles I read about the Lara Logan debate was about being a female journalist more generally. The author, Sabrina Tavernise, talks about the harassment she faced traveling across the Near East. However I thought the ending was the most interesting part-- she argues the worst interactions she had were with Russian soldiers in Georgia. These Russian soldiers weren't Muslim, and they certainly didn't come from an Islamic culture (just read about the Russian government's treatment of Chechnya). Cultural norms on this issue can be messed up anywhere, regardless of what religion is practiced.

Anyway, to conclude, I think the harassment here has two really unfortunate consequences beyond the obvious everyday annoyance. The first one is that it makes me (and other women I've talked to) feel constantly uneasy. Although I'm probably not in any danger, being constantly watched and harassed just makes you feel insecure. The chances that anything will happen are probably incredibly small, but I just don't feel as safe here as I do when walking around in the US.

The second is that it makes me a lot less willing to talk and interact with any man I might meet. Today I was walking past someone and they said "As-Salama!" (hello). I automatically said hello back, but when I turned around I realized it was an older man. The first thing I thought was: oh shit, did I just invite someone to follow me around for the next twenty minutes (which happened several times in Morocco)? Luckily he just wanted to say hello and after a short conversation I went on my way. But most of the time I don't respond to men because I don't want to chance the other alternative. The constant risk of harassment limits my interaction with Tunisians in a very real way, and it makes me resent the situation even more.

Alright thats all I've got for now. Hope everyone summers are going well!