No, Really?

The leftist weekly, The Nation, decided to print one of the lamest articles I have ever read.
It starts badly with this headline: Lewd Stares Distressing To Women.
Was that really contested?
Then, the article goes on to chronicle a poor Muslim woman's suffering as insults are shouted at her.
However, it is this section of the article that made me literally laugh out loud.

"The Emirates is the most female-friendly country in the Middle East. The Government’s efforts to encourage women to use public spaces is admirable. The Abu Dhabi beach was quickly divided into two sections last year after women expressed their discomfort at gangs of labourers roaming about and leering. Emirati men are courteous. They never stare.
By contrast, sexual harassment levels in Egypt are endemic. In the Punjab and Karachi, images of women on billboards are defaced or just banned.

1. I have seen quite a few non-defaced billboards of women in Karachi. In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen a defaced billboard with women on it.
2. While sexual harassment is indeed terrible in Egypt, I would never use the word endemic to describe it.
3. How exactly can you just claim something such as Emirates being the most female-friendly country, then chalk it up to "Emirati men are courteous. They never stare."
4. How can she say that a country is doing well when instead of attempting to solve the problem of sexual harassment it further segregates men and women?

It gets better when the author writes:

"Yet western women are also fascinating because they are considered a third gender. They look like females but have the independence of men. Men who have no shame at leering at women make clear distinctions between those who deserve respect and those who do not."

Is she implying that no women in Muslim countries as a rule ever have the 'independence of men?'

There is no mention of the idea of education, strict laws, lack of empowerment being a cause of any of them. Instead she writes that she hoped that she could have a burqa to wear in Afghanistan because she wants it be a barrier between them and abuse. What of the strict Taliban rule that prevented women from leaving the house without the burqa? Was that a result of the Taliban wanting women to be protected from abuse?

How is Hamida Ghafour solving the problem of sexual harassment?

"When it becomes too much I create a mental buffer zone to tune out the calls and stares. If that doesn’t work I try the shoe trick. When the offender shouts an insult, I stop, point at his shoes and laugh.

It subtly shifts the balance of power. And I won’t get arrested."

Disgusting. Next time, just ask them to look away, or to shut up. It does the trick in a much less stupid way.