The Dark Side of Tahrir Square

Sexual harassment—in Tahrir Square or anywhere else—must be recognized as a crime, not the result of an experiment in cultural relativity or psychological conditions.

by Bina Shah

A few days ago British journalist Natasha Smith published a long and anguished account of being sexually assaulted at the hands of a mob in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. She described how she was attacked by numerous men, her clothes torn off while she was beaten and groped as bystanders did nothing and those who tried to rescue her were set upon by the mob.

Smith’s bravery in speaking out about her assault cannot be commended enough. When rape is shrouded in silence, it continues to assault the survivor for years and even decades after the event; Smith’s decision to go public with her experience is a blow against that conspiracy of silence. She has been condemned for “naïveté,” for being in a dangerous place at a dangerous time, for not dressing appropriately (i.e. in a burqa or veil) in a Muslim country, especially one as volatile as Egypt right now. None of this is justification, explanation, or excuse for her assault. Rape is a crime for which there are no mitigating circumstances, not even a revolution.