Rape and Resistance in Egypt
Radius: A Story of Feminist Revolution by Yasmin El-Rifae. Verso, 218 pp., $24.95 In the fall of 2012, almost two years into the Egyptian revolution, there began to be more and more reports of sexual attacks on women at demonstrations in Egypt. Since President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011, the country had been undergoing a chaotic, contentious political transition. An interim military government was dedicated to protecting the interests of the old regime, Islamist parties were pursuing political power, and various prorevolution groups were clamoring for real reforms. Large crowds were still gathering regularly, most often in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. In these crowds, women were encircled by groups of men, stripped, beaten, raped, and dragged from one end of the square to the other. Sometimes hundreds of men were involved;…
