Rape should not even happen in this world but when it does, it’s usually behind doors, or in dark alleys.
‘Taharrush Jamai‘, Taharrush meaning ‘collective harassment’ in Arabic is a practice where women are openly raped or sexually assaulted by large crowd of men in a barbaric manner. These offenders are bolder because they feel safe in numbers. As these occurrences take place in very large crowds, the offenders usually go unpunished as it would be difficult to determine who did what.
What’s worse, it was reported by the Humanitarian that the harassment was perceived as a ‘game’.
“The game is usually played where there are mass gatherings, protests where the savages find safety and it is a true act of violence, groping, digital rape and in many case penile penetrative rape of the victim regardless their religion.”
An early incident of this practice has been reported in Cairo, Egypt in 2011 where a CBS reporter, Lara Logan was separated from her crew and was sexually assaulted by a large crowd of men, 200 strong.
Daily Mail reports, Lara was at the site reporting on celebrations in Tahrir Square, where the horrific assault took place.
Lara sits with 60 minutes to share that it all started after she have completed the report. Without really understanding what was going on, Lara was separated from the security of her crew by the frenzied crowd.
“The objective of the rape game is for men in the inner circle to deal and make most damage to the victim while the second circle men would fight their way in, and the outer circle that distracts the rest of the crowd from this rape game and usually one for two men are given positions of “trying” to save the victim,” the Humanitarian reports.
“I was told later that they were saying “Let’s take her pants off.” And it’s like suddenly, before I even know what’s happening, I feel hands grabbing my breasts, grabbing my crotch, grabbing me from behind. I mean – and it’s not one person and then it stops – it’s like one person and another person and another person. And I know Ray is right there, and he’s grabbing at me and screaming, “Lara hold onto me, hold onto me.”
Lara describes how she was screaming and screaming as they tore off her clothes. She clung on to Ray, her bodyguard which is also special forces soldier, but she was soon pulled away by the magnitude of the crowd and was separated from him. She explains how she was raped over and over again by the hands of the assailants in the crowd.
“I didn’t even know that they were beating me with flagpoles and sticks and things, because I couldn’t even feel that. Because I think of the sexual assault, was all I could feel, was their hands raping me over and over and over again.”
Once she had lost Ray, Lara was no match for the offending crowd. She was dragged along by the mob for about 25 minutes until they reached a fence where some Egyptian women were camped out.
Thankfully for Lara, the Egyptian women came to her aid, shielding her from the crowd. At that time, the incident has already been notified and soldiers were sent in to retrieve Lara.
Soon reinforcements arrived. A soldier managed to get hold of her and flung her over his shoulder. Even then, the soldiers still have to beat through the ocean of mob to get back to safety.
Upon spotting Lara, producer Max McClellan falls to his knees in apology.
“I remember Max going down on his knees in front of me. And he said, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
With a crowd that big, Lara was lucky to make it out alive. And sadly hers was not the only incident of Taharrush Jamai. Other instances have also been reported in Cologne, Germany and other cities by Arab and North African men.
No one is really certain as to why this practice is carried out. However, an article from Speaking Tree says the attack reflects a misogynist ideology that women should stay home, or she can be sought to be shamed publicly. The horror!
It’s a shame that in some countries, females are still repressed and are often mistreated because of that. Let’s just hope for a better change in the future as such acts like Taharrush Jamai are just plain disgusting.
