I am a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco. Being American I honestly had never received harassment as a woman until I came to Morocco. The harassment is the worst in the small towns. In bigger cities where people are more educated and have things to do the harassment isn’t quite so bad. But daily in my own town men on street corners stare as me as I walk by, try to rouse me with, “Hello, how are you” in several languages, or say things in Arabic that I am told I am lucky not to understand.
My best technique is to ignore it, but it doesn’t mean I don’t hear it. Sometimes I listen to my head phones when I walk so I can block out all the comments entirely. In such a conservative and religious country men are treating women like they are nothing more than sexual objects. I know how lucky I am that I only have to deal with this a few more months. What hurts me the most is when I see teen girls having to deal with it. Girls that will have to deal with this their entire life starting as such an innocent young age.
– A.R.C.
Location: many cities in Morocco
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Paul says
If a girl is being harrassed by men in Morocco, it is usually for a particular reason. One of those reasons is the clothing choice of the girl. There are quite strict clothing rules for girls in Morocco. Should a Moroccan girl dress herself in European clothing, this would be seen as her being a “traitor” and mentally the men believe her to be nothing more than a prostitute. The same goes for tourist girls. To avoid this the tourist girl needs to check her style of clothing and be respectful to the local culture. This happens in the big cities and also in the small towns. In the small towns, a girl must adhere to the clothing advice even more so. A peace corp can’t walk around in the everyday summer clothes of home. If she does, she is being completely disrespectful to the culture and regarded as leading the men on, inviting the trouble. Whilst the writer above finds it upsetting, she should check herself first to see if her dress sense is offending people around her. Its not an excuse for this harrassment, but in Morocco, it is reality of the street. If you want to be respected you have to show respect first.
HKearl says
Paul, street harassment is VERY pervasive in Morocco, even for women who, as you put it, dress respectfully to the culture. In fact, I’ve heard from women in that country who routinely carry brooms with them to ward off the aggressive harassers who try to grab them. Plus, I suspect that a Peace Corps volunteer is very well attuned to what clothing is culturally acceptable so it seems unfair to berate her for her clothing.
Further, why would it be acceptable for men to harass a prostitute? Why is okay to harass any person based on their clothing even if it is not the norm for what people wear? The cultural norms and the acceptance of street harassment needs to change, not women’s clothing, especially since the clothing doesn’t even matter; so many women face harassment even when wearing the most “appropriate” clothes.
beckie says
Well said. We know that even women fully covered with only eye slits are harassed. How we wish it was all as easy as just dressing correctly. But then we shouldn’t have to do that either. Men should never have the right to dictate what a woman wears, no matter the country!!!!!
leila says
As a moroccan woman living in Europe, I have sometimes the same problem when going to Morocco for vacation. It has nothing to do with clothing. The tric I have learned it to ignore such men and it works very good. My sister lives in Morocco and she can live with it without any problem simply by ignoring such ignorant people. And indeed the smaller the city, the bigger the problem. In morocco, men mostly bother women verbaly not like what I’ve heard about Egypt where harassement can become physically like touching. I hope, it will not be an issue to generalise about all moroccan men.