Blog profile
After learning that my high school stint at McDonald’s wouldn’t get me a job at a mag, I worked as a freelance journalist for a few years. With much haggling and many annoying phone calls, I got a job at Cosmo! As web ed, no two days are the same – some days I’ll be at a video or photo shoot, others I’m interviewing celebs or updating myself on the latest goss (all for research purposes, obviously).
Apart from that, I have a healthy addiction to cupcakes, clutches and Christian Bale. I once watched a VH1 countdown of ‘The 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever’ and was proud to announce that I loved every last one of them. I’m very good at tripping over, talking too loud and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Oh … and in an acrostic poem that my friends wrote about me, the “e” in my name stood for “embarrassing.”
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January
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Mon 25
Cover up
In Egypt, an anonymous email comparing unveiled women to unwrapped, fly-covered chocolate bars is doing the rounds.
A predominantly Muslim country, it is customary for women to wear the hijab (headdress) in Egypt.
The email campaign infers that unveiled women are more likely to be sexually harassed or attacked, urging them to cover up.
The email warns, "A veil to protect, or eyes will molest." It compares a veiled woman and a wrapped, untouched chocolate bar to an unveiled women beside an unwrapped, fly-covered chocolate bar. In case you didn't get it, the ad reads, "You can't stop them, but you can protect yourself."
Interestingly, Egyptian women have claimed that wearing the hijab actually makes them more vulnerable to sexual harassment. One woman told The Washington Post, "The more covered up you are, the more interesting you are to them."
To me, this email speaks to the one of the most fundamentally sexist and misogynistic theories in our society - that women share the responsibility of rape and sexual harassment. This isn't just an Egyptian or even a Muslim problem - there is still a section of Western society that lays part of the blame for sexual crimes on women. People for whom wearing a short skirt is 'asking for it' or for whom flirting is tantamount to 'wanting it.' It's not only outdated, but just plain wrong. The victim is always the victim, in my mind.
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