“You are not allowed to do this here,” boomed a slightly underweight and frail-looking security guard at a shopping center in Cairo shortly as I broke away from hugging a female friend good bye. My 14-year-old self’s first response, after having read news of arrests due to public displays of affection, was “Hugging is okay. Kissing is not!” The confused security guard looked me in the eye and slowly walked away, unsure what to make of my awkward response. Seven years later, while Egyptian cinema screens unreservedly show abuse of women, rape and violent sex, kissing remains out of the question, both on and off the screen. “Kissing my boyfriend on the street? I’m not crazy,” humorously exclaims 19-year-old Sarah Meguid*. “They would first think I am a whore. And then, they would go after my boyfriend. Ironically, I would be sexually harassed along the way by someone who was so against me kissing the person I love.” Tarek Abdel Raouf, 22, agrees with Sarah, saying he would feel uncomfortable kissing in public. “People would criticize me, shame me. It’s just overall uncomfortable knowing that everyone around you will judge you,” says…
