Understanding Politically Motivated Sexual Assault in Protest Spaces

Abstract

Women have been at the forefront of protest movements in Arab revolts, and whilst their activism has been the subject of a growing body of scholarly work, there is a paucity of literature on their exposure to sexual assault during demonstrations. This article is an empirical study of the increasing politicization of sexual assault in Egypt’s transition between March 2011 and June 2013, which seeks to contribute to the broader literature on sexual violence in contexts that are politically tumultuous and polarized but are not technically ‘at war’. It draws on the literature on rape as a weapon of war without isolating sexual aggression in protest spaces from the continuum of gender-based violence that is socially, politically and legally embedded in the context of Egypt. The article argues that a number of factors if analysed individually suggest there is no difference in the dynamics of sexual violence in protest and non-protest spaces, however, when taken as a constellation of factors, they suggest a pattern that is politically driven, in particular, when their commissioning and targeting are commensurate with the political deployment of sexual violence identified in the rape as a weapon of war literature.

Gendering Pacification: Policing Women at Anti-fracking Protests

“…The intended effects of this violence resonate with assessments of sexual violence perpetrated during protest (Tadros, 2013; in which men are able to exert power and domination over women. Maria discussed how the violence she experienced made her feel and the sense of powerlessness it induced:…”

“…It has, therefore, also shaped the response to protest. Women s experience of violence during protest at the hands of the state through state-sanctioned policies, military violence and police violence though documented (Al-Ali, 2012;Human Rights Watch, 2013;Roseneil, 1995;Tadros, 2013Tadros, , 2016Young, 1990) remains under-researched, particularly in relation to the policing of women in protest spaces in the UK.…”

“…Globally, on some occasions, recorded violence perpetrated by agents of the state has been sexual in nature; women protesters have been strip-searched, harassed and groped, sexually abused and raped (Al-Ali, 2012;Human Rights Watch, 2013;Robbins, 2015;Tadros, 2013Tadros, , 2016Yellesetty, 2011). The broader message of these harms is arguably intended to have an impact upon wider gendered communities, through threats, intimidation and humiliation, marking the protest site as an unsafe and prohibited space for women.…”

Contentious and Prefigurative Politics: Vigilante Groups’ Struggle against Sexual Violence in Egypt (2011–2013)

“…While sexual violence reflects entrenched patriarchal societal norms and values (regarding women's worth), sexual violence in protest spaces has an added political dimension in that it is an attempt to intimidate and prevent women from publicly voicing their opposition through active political participation (Amar, ; FIDH et al., ; Scholz, ; Shash, ; Tadros, ). During Mubarak's rule, the security apparatus used sexual assault as a means to terrorize women and prevent them from participating in public protest, either through the use of their own forces or through hired thugs .…”

“…On 25 May 2005, for example, when citizens gathered in front of the Press Syndicate to call for a boycott of the referendum on constitutional reform, a group of women protestors and a female journalist covering the event were sexually harassed — violations which were caught on camera and video (FIDH et al., ). The targeting of protest spaces and political dissidents and evidence of commissioning of these acts, along with a constellation of other factors, point to the explicitly political nature of sexual violence between 2011 and 2013 (Tadros, ). Some acts of sexual violence were committed by the army under the leadership of SCAF; those of 9 March and 14 December 2011 having been the most extensively documented.…”