Tamer Hosny and Donia Samir Ghanim Gave me a Heart Attack

Egypt has one of the world’s highest percentages of gender inequality. According to the United Nation’s Development Program, our country’s gender inequality index ranks 126 out of 147 countries.

Sometimes, we observe statistics that we are unable to relate to. However, this number is one that every Egyptian can vow is accurate when observing how women are treated in relation to men in Egyptian society.

When there is a vast societal problem, all members of the Egyptian community should strive to battle it; especially ones that have wide outreach, like film, newscasts, awareness programs and music.

However, the Egyptian media – especially the music industry – has done little to prevent this. In fact, the latter industry in particular seems to accommodate the stereotype of men as a ‘superior sex.’

A few days ago, I heard a song called “Si Al Sayed” – a Tamer Hosni and Snoop Dogg collaboration. Tamer is one of my favorite Arabic singers, and no, I am not being sarcastic.

‘Si Al Sayed’ is originally a character from one of Naguib Mahfouz’s novels, later turned into a movie, named ‘The Cairo Triology.’

In the novel and movie, Si Al Sayed is portrayed as an authoritarian father and husband. His wife and daughters are not allowed to be seated on the dining table with him, couldn’t stand near windows or balconies and were prohibited from going out without their father’s permission and their brothers would always escort them. Also, They were not permitted to complete their education.

After paying attention to the Tamer’s lyrics, I felt nauseous.

The song basically discusses how women should submit to their male partners. Tamer explains how women who fail to do so should be treated and that his ‘significant’ other should follow his instructions with regards to how she dresses, her curfew and general rules and orders.

Another explanation Tamer is so kind to offer is that he does not understand why women challenge the belief of inequality, because “without men, what would you ladies do?”

The video also illustrates sexist sentiments; after Tamer’s wife ‘disobeys’ him, he locks her up in her room and hosts a party in their home’s garden. His wife, looking more regretful that she did not follow his orders than disappointed at her husband’s disrespect, sits in a room filled with Marilyn Monroe portraits.

Ironically, one of Monroe’s best known quotes is, “I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.”

The first verse in the song reads as follows,

“These words are for you and for any woman who tries to cancel out the difference between a man and woman; they are more than one difference. Your attempts to compare between you and I make you less feminine in my eyes.”

Upon hearing those words, an endless stream of questions baffled me. Does this man know that millions of Egyptians – and non-Egyptians – listen and are more or less affected by his lyrics? Is he aware of the responsibility that he bares? Shouldn’t he be battling this kind of inequality rather than encouraging it? Won’t there be some kind of response? How would a woman artist react to this stereotype?

Days later, that last question was coincidentally answered. I came across a song by Egyptian singer Donia Samir Ghanem titled ‘Wahda Tania Khalis,’ which would be translated to ‘a completely different woman.’

A part of the song read as follows,

“I wear what he wants me to wear, I follow his rules word by word, he has complete control over my life, he is the only man I speak to; he even picks my girlfriends” clarifying, “Weirdly, I am happy this way.”

My jaw dropped. Her words shocked me more than Tamer’s did. For some reason, a man’s encouragement of this stereotype does not even relatively shock me as much as when a woman openly accommodates it.

Rather than empowering women’s rights and promoting equality, Donia’s song was far from an example that young girls should ever follow.

We are so consumed in criticizing news channels and television presenters that we often overlook more dangerous examples of broadcast media, like music, that have a much wider outreach and relatively more intense influence on viewers and/or listeners.

Industry icons such as Tamer Hosni and Donia Samir Ghanem should be promoting social and gender quality rather than encouraging oppression of women. In fact, the responsibility does not only fall on Tamer. Egyptian authorities tend to sensor racy scenes in movies as well as inappropriate language. It is also customary that singers do not use swear words within their content.

I believe that while focusing on racy content is important, focusing on underlying messages is also vital. People of all ages, education levels and sexes listen to this music. When they listen to songs that give the same message repetitively, they can’t help but subconsciously have at least a faint belief that this message is what is normal. In this case, for most Egyptians at least, women are expected to submit to their counterparts. When they’re exposed to so much sexual content, can we really blame them? We can’t help but fight back – or at least do anything and everything in our power to change those common conceptions.