Egypt's Virginity Test Verdict: One Step Back for Womankind

It was meant to be the other trial of century for Egypt. It had all sorts of discursive, socio-political and women's rights connotations. Samira Ibrahim's battle against SCAF and the virginity tests it inflicted on female protests received much attention. Yet, the Women's Spring takes another blow as the doctor who performed these tests was acquitted this week.

"Samira Ibrahim herself did not have faith in the military judiciary to her tweets and her statements and described the whole trial as a play all the time.Nevertheless the feeling that you lost a case is difficult even if you have a little faith. She cried and broke down in the court today."

The statement "If these walls could talk.." never applied more so than to the streets of Cairo, where history runs deeps. Mohammad Mahmoud Street is the revolution's very own shrine, where the graffiti on its wall documents the history, passion and key moments of the Egyptian spring. It also showcases that Egyptian artistry that we know so well.

"Mohammed Mahmud is one of the main streets leading to Tahrir Square, and includes the back entrance of AUC. This street will remain a memorable space for the revolution because it witnessed some of the most dramatic and violent moments during last November, December and February with the gassing, the killing and the disfiguring of hundreds of protesters by the police forces."

The LGBT movement was always going to be a hard sell for Egypt's mainstream ideology, especially with growing conservatism. Yet, what was once an infamously active clandestine community is now finding itself creeping further and further back into the closet.

"Long before Tahrir Square captured the imagination of the world as the stage for Egypt’s revolution, it was an infamous, clandestine meeting place for gay Cairenes."

Speaking of queer communities, we place our spotlight on another article from Jadaliyya and this article on "progressive queers" in the U.S. It seems that they are progressive about everything, except Islam. It's an interesting look at if the tables were turned. Instead of Muslim clerics speaking against homosexuality, it is "liberal' homosexuals speaking against the Quran. Ironic for a community that preaches acceptance.

"As I watched the Qur’an-tearing performance in a state of shock and betrayal, I painfully felt a sense of vulnerability to hate speech in a seemingly safe “progressive” queer space. To my disappointment, the “progressive” audience who saw the act did not find any issue with the sheer Islamophobia of it."