Enjoying Egypt 225Extra-Marital Relationships Prostitution, Homosexuality and
EXTRA-MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS
Prostitution is definitely one of those topics most Egyptians
do not want to talk about. When pushed, most will simply
tell you prostitution is illegal. Some will tell you that they
think prostitution used to be legal; others simply tell you
there has never been legal prostitution in Egypt. In any
event, prostitutes do work in Egypt. Historically, prostitution
used to be associated with being out late at night and
with the arts, particularly musicians and belly dancers, in
other words, those who were outside the mainstream of
traditional Egyptian society. The most famous area, 40–50
years ago, used to be around Mohamed Ali Street. Now,
there is no organised district, per se, such as in Amsterdam.
How do you recognise a prostitute? Again, answers are
elusive. Most people answer, ‘Well, you just know’. You
probably will, too.
Gay rights do not exist in Egypt. There is no movement,
no public acknowledgement for a very simple reason:
homosexuality is illegal in Egypt. Homosexual acts leave a
person open to being punished for committing the crime
of ‘disgraceful impudent acts’. Under this law, a convicted
person can be imprisoned for up to one year and fined up to
E£ 300. Usually, this law has not been used against
Westerners—they are just deported instead of imprisoned.
This does not mean you definitely will be deported rather
than imprisoned, however. Recognise this: homosexuality is
not welcome in Egypt.
Does this mean there are no gay hangouts in Egypt? No,
it does not. As mentioned in other sections, friends of the
same sex may hold hands casually in public without this
being interpreted as homosexual behaviour. But anything
that looks like public gestures of affection between persons
of the same sex (things that are perceived to be homosexual)
provokes strong negative reactions. Men wearing earrings are
assumed to be homosexuals! For more information, check:
http://www.gayegypt.com
Messing around with extra-marital heterosexual affairs
can also result in dealing with the force of the law. A