For Ghizlane Ahblain, the word "whore" is a constant refrain in the soundtrack of her home city, Marrakesh. A stomach-punch of a word, it's hurled from the pink-tinged doorways and from the rickety motorbikes whose engines gasp for breath on the city's choked main roads.
"In Morocco, everything you do, you're a whore," says Ghizlane, who works at a hotel. "If you wear lipstick, you're a whore. If you wear a headscarf, you're a whore."
Frustration spills out of the small but fierce 30-year-old Moroccan as she sits on a cafe terrace in central Marrakesh. Like many women in Morocco, Ghizlane experiences sexual harassment on a daily basis. But a few years ago, she started to fight back.
Her tactic is to make a scene, making it harder for men who harass women on the street, both physically and orally. She sparks an argument with the man who mutters: "You've got lovely legs", or loudly accuses another of theft after he makes sexist comments at the bank. "More people should denounce this behaviour," she says. "Men in my country don't know when to stop."
With her master's degree and short skirt, Ghizlane admits she's no typical Moroccan woman. But she's not alone in standing up to sexual harassment. Full story...
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"In Morocco, everything you do, you're a whore," says Ghizlane, who works at a hotel. "If you wear lipstick, you're a whore. If you wear a headscarf, you're a whore."
Frustration spills out of the small but fierce 30-year-old Moroccan as she sits on a cafe terrace in central Marrakesh. Like many women in Morocco, Ghizlane experiences sexual harassment on a daily basis. But a few years ago, she started to fight back.
Her tactic is to make a scene, making it harder for men who harass women on the street, both physically and orally. She sparks an argument with the man who mutters: "You've got lovely legs", or loudly accuses another of theft after he makes sexist comments at the bank. "More people should denounce this behaviour," she says. "Men in my country don't know when to stop."
With her master's degree and short skirt, Ghizlane admits she's no typical Moroccan woman. But she's not alone in standing up to sexual harassment. Full story...
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