Kissing on Egyptian Streets

A photograph circulating on Facebook of two young Egyptians kissing in the street stirred both outrage and admiration. Shared by Ahmed ElGohary, a commentator objected to ‘the lack of manhood’ entailed by sharing such photo. Others praised the beauty of it and its revolutionary sense.

Two young lovers kiss on the street in Egypt, shared by Ahmed ElGohary  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151429894938231&set=a.10151035748418231.432064.669983230&type=1&theater

Two young lovers kiss on the street in Egypt, shared by Ahmed ElGohary http://tinyurl.com/l3rozz9

Public display of affection is widely frowned upon in Egypt, as laws of public indecency could be used to prosecute those who publicly show affection or drink alcohol on the streets.

Alongside the photo, ElGohary shared lyrics of Youssra El Hawary's song On The Street. El Hawary an upcoming independent singer and her songs proved a youtube success. On The Street's lyrics read:

Some people curse each other, kill each other on the street,
Some people sleep on the floor on the street,
Some people sell their honor on the street,
But it would truly be a scandal if one day we forgot and kissed each other on the street!

25 comments

  • Don Grantzki

    Kiss your love on the street and I will KILL YOU!
    Creed of the “peaceful” Muslim.

    • nimh

      The couple in the photo is also Muslim…

      • Don Grantzki

        Obviously they won’t be beheading themselves. But what of the “brotherhood”?

        • nimh

          The Muslim Brotherhood, for all its faults, is not beheading people either, Hyperbole is not helpful.

          It won’t do to pretend that all Muslims, or alternatively, all Muslim Brotherhood-type believers, are infidel-beheading Al Quaeda extremists. That kind of rhetorics creates more noise than light, if the aim is to try to understand a situation.

          • Don Grantzki

            Given their track record, I see no indication that ANY of the various Muslim factions “understand” each other. For the most part the ONLY thing they can agree upon is that they consider America’s way of life to be based on greed and practiced by something they like to refer to as “infidels” and the celebrations in and around the Muslim world after the 9/11 attacks tell me all I need to know about them.

             
          • How is that black and white world you’re living in? The world is not as simple and naive as your us vs. them mentality. And your use of quotations is wrong and annoying.

             
  • […] Sta facendo sensazione il bacio egiziano tra due ragazzi anonimi immortalati nelle vie del Cairo, in un paese, l’Egitto, dove le effusioni in pubblico sono sanzionate. Come la bellezza del bacio di Robert Doisneau raccontava il risbocciare della vita nella Parigi post-bellica anche questo bacio sembra esprimere desideri analoghi. Se Doisneau scriveva la storia del fotogiornalismo sulle pagine di Life, oggi il bacio del Cairo circola su Facebook. Di più su Global Voices. […]

  • Shahid Raki

    This is not what is encouraged in Islam, but in comparison to what I’ve been seeing on the news coming from their country and some others in that area, I would rather see this than the fighting and killing. The killing is one neighbor against another, which is civil fighting. Why should anyone be fighting with their neighbors? When you hurt or kill your neighbor you are basically killing yourself. You are a part of your community no matter who you are or what you think of your neighbors. Don Grantzki shows that he doesn’t know what is really happening in Egypt. He’s going off of his own misconcepts, just like people there might have about Americans. Until you’ve been in their country or met some of their people you can only go on what you see that the media presents. Many times that is grossly misleading. Do some research on your own. Don’t always take the media’s input at face value. They are quite capable of piecing together snippets to look like other than what they truly are. If they can grossly mispronounce names and words so easily, so can they put in leave out what they wish.

  • […] Sta facendo sensazione il bacio egiziano tra due ragazzi anonimi immortalati nelle vie del Cairo, in un paese, l’Egitto, dove le effusioni in pubblico sono sanzionate. Come la bellezza del bacio di Robert Doisneau raccontava il risbocciare della vita nella Parigi post-bellica anche questo bacio sembra esprimere desideri analoghi. Se Doisneau scriveva la storia del fotogiornalismo sulle pagine di Life, oggi il bacio del Cairo circola su Facebook. Di più su Global Voices. […]

  • I’m in love with a Muslim girl. But she can’t have a boyfriend because of her religion. Do I have a hope that it may change?
    We both are different nationalities. Both are from different cultural background. But we both fell in love. I knew that she is very religious, but everything seemed to be working out with us. I stayed at her place for a couple of nights. We hang out during the days. I kissed her and she kissed me, she liked it and she like me very much, she have told me that many times. We both had fun reading and discussing books, watching movies etc. But one day it changed. She said she is feeling guilty about it, that she is doing things that she is not supposed to do. She said that she like me very much, but one day I will understand why she is doing that. And she ended it. She said she bears pain from two sides – she is not following the rules of Quran and that she is hurting me with this decision. I don’t want to be disrespectful to her beliefs, but is this Fair? People in this religion sometimes are forced to get married and in the end they are not happy, they get divorced. How is this better than falling in love, spending time with each other, holding hands and kissing and when the time comes, then get married?
    She is a very smart girl and I don’t understand why she does not see that it shouldn’t be like this. If I do as she wants, If I won’t meet her is it possible that she will change her mind or she will just get more and more distanced from me and eventually she will forget about me? I know that it is hard to answer this kind of a question, but I need some advice here. Please.

  • Crazy for fun! Let’s party best fun !! Never grow up!!!

  • Religion is tough my friend and in todays world, religion isn’t for men, men is for religion.

    Sure it can change, you both can get back but be ready to face criticism lots of it! Only if their and your parents are open minded to understand it may be different.

    I would be no one to talk about any religion or belief, so it is all up to the girl and you, if she let herself kiss you have fun and enjoy… She can take the next step too ask her its a sensitive issue deal it with utmost care and patience keep faith in ur love, best of luck!

  • Religion is tough my friend and in todays world, religion isn’t for men, men is for religion.

    Sure it can change, you both can get back but be ready to face criticism lots of it! Only if their and your parents are open minded to understand it may be different.

Cancel this reply

Join the conversation -> nimh

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.