CAIRO — “As I watched my breasts develop, I was anxious and confused; I was a child who didn’t understand anything about my body. Suddenly, my mother bought me a sports bra. And when I told my friend, she asked if I had started producing milk,” Samar Sulaiman, now 30, remembers about entering puberty, a life stage during which girls in Egypt often lack a safe source of information about the changes that are happening to them, leaving the space wide open to myths.
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Myths about the female body are rife in conservative societies such as Egypt’s. These are not only evident in the way women dress, move, speak and interact, but also have repercussions on how women handle their natural growth and development, as well as their sexuality.
All information about sexual relations with men are kept secret — if they are revealed at all — from women until just before their marriage.
Sulaiman, who was 11 at the time, hated the appearance of her breasts. She wore a bra all the time — even in the shower — until her mother told her that doing so would make her breasts grow bigger. Following her mother’s mythical advice, Sulaiman stopped wearing a bra all the time. She hoped that this would keep her body from changing in ways she did not understand or accept.
“No one told me that it was normal; that breasts are a sign of beauty. I didn’t have any correct information. It was just myths that my mother told me because she wanted me to act in a certain way,” says Sulaiman, who did not manage to reconcile with her breasts until she got married, gave birth and breastfed her child; only then was she able to see her body in a different way.
Envy and women’s bodies
Sulaiman is not alone; only the details differ among women. Siham Ahmed, for example, remembers being very anxious and sad over something a friend told her about puberty.
“When I reached puberty, I told my closest friend. She told me that she had reached puberty before me but didn’t tell me so that I wouldn’t be jealous,” said Ahmed, who is now 22.
“My friend’s mother had told her that early puberty was an indication that her reproductive health was good and that she would give birth right away. This made me think that I had problems because I reached puberty later” — even though the difference between them was only a few months and both girls reached puberty at 12, which is not considered late.
Counterintuitive advice
Ignorance of scientific facts as well as the dominance of popular myths can turn puberty into years of fear for girls in Egypt. This is particularly common in rural communities.
“We are influenced by the convictions of our parents and grandparents, even if there is no scientific evidence for them,” saysadia Gamal, a family and educational consultant, who blames inherited unawareness for spreading incorrect information about women’s bodies. “This makes us doubt our simplest intuitive behaviors and fear that we will harm ourselves,” Gamal says.
Talking with other women helped me get rid of the stigma.
Ahmed remembers an example of advice going against her natural instinct. When she got her period, her mother advised her to avoid bathing and to treat the bleeding “like a wound. Don’t get water close to it until it stops.” So Ahmed went four or five days every month without bathing or personal hygiene.
“I felt like I wasn’t clean. I couldn’t stand myself and couldn’t do anything,” she says, adding that she followed her mother’s advice until she became aware about the inaccuracy of such myths through talking to other women who had learned about women’s bodies from social media.
“It helped me get rid of the stigma,” she says.
FGM and virginity tests
Female genital mutilation (FGM), believed to attenuate women’s sexual desire, remains one of the most famous myths that is still common in Egypt, as well as many African and Arab countries. The practice, which comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, has killed many girls around the world, harms women’s physical and emotional health and has no health benefits.
The Egyptian Family Health Survey found that the rate of FGM among girls 0 to 19 years old in Egypt fell from 21% in 2014 to 14% in 2023. Yet the practice still exists especially in rural areas and upper Egypt, where it is linked to virginity and honor.
My virginity is sacred, and I must preserve it.
Fatimah Mohamed, who is from the southwestern province of Fayoum, remembers being told myths related to virginity and honor: not open her legs too wide; not to wear tight pants; not to ride a bike; not to use strong current of water when showering. Now 23, Mohamed says she understands that advice. “My virginity is sacred, and I must preserve it. Any violent movement will cause me to lose my hymen.”
Gamal notes that cultures that value virginity, raise girls to be extremely cautious and fearful of anything that could break their hymen. But an examination of the hymen is not an accurate or reliable test of a previous history of sexual activity.
Body image
These myths make women feel constantly anxious and uncomfortable. And women’s daily practices regarding their bodies become a source of confusion and questioning. Gamal tells the story of a girl who was afraid of sharing restrooms with men because she thought she could become pregnant if there were traces of sperm on the toilet.
“This reflects the widespread unawareness about our bodies and sexualities, and the intense fear of any situation that might be related to our reproductive or sexual role as women,” Gamal says, noting that these ideas are also common among educated people.
“We find highly educated people committed to these cultural ideas, as a result of the fears they had when they were young. And they recycle these ideas. Education does not change anything in their thinking, because there is a big difference between culture and education.”
Education and therapy
Myths can also cause girls and women to believe certain ideals about their bodies, whether they’re related to beauty standards or self-care. Myths and ideas about body image can stay with women for life and cause introversion, lead to depression or even suicide, depending on the person’s personality and exposure to these ideas, says Jamal Farooz, a psychiatric consultant.
They can also impact marital relationship, he says. “A silly comment can cause a coldness in the relationship between the spouses. Our problem is with awareness, the more it increases, the more we eliminate these problems.”
Sex education in schools could be a solution.
Farooz says that sex education in schools could be a solution because it allows girls to learn about their bodies in the right way, and “understand how to protect themselves and how to deal with puberty and maintain their personal hygiene.”
Many feminist associations are also campaigning to raise awareness among women and girls through various means, including workshops. Sulaiman says expanded her knowledge about her body through one of these workshops that uses movement and dance therapy techniques to improve how women look at their bodies.
“It helped me accept my body, especially my breasts,” she says.
