Lara Logan's Sexual Assault In Egypt’s Tahrir Square

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My BF learnt about this incident on the news a few days ago and told me about it. I just came across this video myself, and I am horrified.

While reporting at Tahrir Square, Lara Logan was forcefully separated from her producer, cameramen and bodyguards and assaulted by a mob of Egyptian men. They tore off all her clothes, groped and raped her with their fingers. She was eventually rescued by Egyptian women who protected her until Egyptian soldiers arrived some 25 minutes later.

Of course, no one deserves to be sexually assaulted. I'm not saying she was 'asking for it'.



But what was she, her producers and CBS news thinking?!

She wore a blouse with a low neckline in a country where all the women are covered in black up to their eyeballs. She is a 39 year old mother of two babies aged one and two. Was having not one, but two home-wrecking affairs not enough publicity for her back home?

Why would CBS send a blonde woman out into Tahrir Square amongst people who have been known to be violent against Americans and against women!? Were they doing this for the ratings?



And as for Egypt... I know rape happens in every country of the world. And this mob of 200 or 300 bad(or foolish) men should not be generalised as the kind of people Egypt has on the whole. But somehow, now, I struggle to convince myself that these places should be supported in times of adversity. Maybe the world should just leave them to help themselves... or just watch them all burn themselves into the ground.

Comments

  1. And there's no justice done.

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  2. i cant bring myself to finish the video. makes me so angry watching it. its someone's body they are insulting, not a lump of meat!

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  3. Tinkerbell5:22 am

    I don't understand how you are linking her being a mother with 2 babies, to her 2 home-wrecking affairs to the assault as publicity?

    You say you don't think she asked for it but your tone is somehow very condemning and judgemental. As if she doesn't deserve any sympathy just because she didnt possess a 'clean' background?

    Hope you're not taking it wrong but am trying to make sense of what u are saying

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  4. @kuen- it was a whole mob. How to catch the culprits? :( Plus this is a country where.... if a woman (local) gets raped... the village will stone her to death or beat her because she has brought shame to the family (by getting raped!). The rapists remain untouched.

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    @ting, towards the end of the video, when she talks abt how the egyptian women formed like a barricade around her to protect her. tht made me feel hopeful for humanity.
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    @tinkerbell- I was linking it to - my not understanding her motivations for going to Egypt to report on this revolution. Like why would she do it? What was she thinking?!

    If i were a mother of a 1 yr old baby. I think tht would take priority over any high profile (and risky) reporting assignment.

    And bringing up the fact tht she has been in the news TWICE before for having affairs with 2 high profile married men... which then led to their divorces... is sort of asking- Did she do all this for the publicity?

    But I'm in no way saying she's a bad (in my opinion) mother and had affairs and therefore deserves to be raped in egypt.

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  5. Anonymous12:18 pm

    no offence but your blog is filled with ads no more the holly who blogs about her life anymore :( i miss that.

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  6. I don't even dare to click on that video.

    - Shu.
    Shushings.blogspot.com

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  7. Yeah man, it just reminded me of all the big celebrations in Orchard Road when the girls get groped by people.

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  8. Did you find out why her affairs were being publicized? Could it be a gossipy thing common among the tabloid culture? I'm not sure and I haven't got the time or the interest to google it but regardless, I think it's horrible of you to actually question whether she did it for publicity.

    For all the progress we women have made to fight for our equality, your comments have set us back many steps. Lara was speaking out for women who have to put up with sexual assault as the norm, where it's not okay to talk about it, where women were blamed if they get sexually assaulted by men. She's voicing it out and giving awareness to the sexual atrocities that women put up with and are supposed to keep mum about because she can since she's a foreigner (esp when Egyptian women might get stoned for that). I know you didn't say she deserves to be raped but here you are, talking about her neckline, commenting about her personal affairs which objectively hasn't got anything to do with her caliber as a reporter. Honestly, yes, her outfit wasn't all covered up, but it's decent and not in anyway sexy or revealing where half her boobs were dangling. She was even wearing a jacket for god's sake.

    And about the part where you mentioned her being a mother of 2. Look, YOU would make your kids priority which is good for you but there are also women who have aspirations other than having kids and being a full-time mom. When a man treats his career as priority as opposed to focusing full on his kids, it's somehow okay. And when women like Lara who have kids but also want a career, she's being questioned by people like you. Like "oh what the hell is she thinking?"

    I know you said she isn't a bad mom but the fact that you question what she's thinking when she chose to go to Egypt as a correspondent despite her children means that you're making judgement and I think it's really unfair.

    Perhaps you should write about how you could champion rights for women and raise awareness for the injustice in woman issues today, instead of fussing over necklines, kids and malicious things like whether she did it for publicity. Do something for US women, since you're one too, instead of regressing our progress in seeking equality in the male dominating society...

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  9. cos not every woman is like you, thinking marriage and kids are EVERYTHING to them, some still want to be successful in their careers too besides having marriage/kids.

    i don't thnk she did it for the ratings, just that the crew was not prepared.

    why do think such a mob exists? cos the country is so poor, so screwed up, people are hungy, no food, no jobs, unstable political situation. if the world just leave them alone, they will never change. your last statement is because we are living in SG, no such problems so you feel that you don't have to bother.

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  10. Anonymous4:35 pm

    I feel so disappointed when seeing this blog entry. Narrow-minded bimbo should only write about sex and luxury life of being an expat's gf.

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  11. Anonymous5:03 pm

    WOW HJ. UR being blasted here.... your this post is quite unclear though, as in the message ur trying to convey, it can also upset some people as it's a public blog, alot of times u gotta try look at things in different perspectives.

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  12. Anonymous5:48 pm

    Holly, you say you're not judging her but you are - not with what you've said but with what you've not.

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  13. Rape is the worst nightmare that can happen on any female, be it student, prostitute or housewife...

    The emotional scars is permanent and nobody deserves that, condemn those mobsters!!

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  14. I read in Time about this lady. She was always the gung-ho sort and that was how she got her big break. I guess as a reporter/journalist, as much as you want to be around the next 50 years and more with your family, to get your name in that byline in the newspapers when it comes to a huge event like the Egyptian protests could be their ONE BIG SHOT. So she took the risk. But she told the press that this has changed her and she won't be as gung-ho in the future, for her family's sake

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  15. This is so horrifying! No one deserves to be treated this way :(

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  16. I read all your comments. Not ignoring anyone.

    But I've said what I had to say, I won't repeat and repeat.. very tiring.

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  17. Anonymous10:55 pm

    omg.. those men are evil.. i hope they get their karma!

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  18. Rachel3:03 am

    i gotta admit with the tinkerbell and B. I'm a fan of yours, but this post really put me into such disappointment. how could you said that?

    which woman will want to put herself through hell and you assumed she's doing it for publicity? we are talking abt sexually assaulted here.

    and it's so irrelevant and unnecessary to bring out her background. everyone as their issues and no one's perfect. like you have been into numerous r'ship and flings!

    She's a mother, but have it ever occurred to you she's taking up her job partly for her kids too?

    its such a shame how you could interpret / judge her like that after you've seen the horrifying video.

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  19. it's like if one day you are raped ( god forbid that!) and people are wondering if you did that to get more blog readership.

    looking at YOUR background, you write about sex freely, had many relationships/flings with different men, love to dress skimpily & sexily, people start to wonder why you did the above and said maybe you were trying to get the guy to commit to you but he refused and you cry rape cos knowing how much you yearned for committment, how would you feel then?

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  20. I never said Lara Logan GOT HERSELF RAPED to get publicity.

    I said I did not understand why she would go to a dangerous place during a freaking revolution to cover a story....it was voluntary, not mandatory.

    Yes, it's a job and a woman should not give up her career for family if she doesn't want to. But to put her life in such jeopardy when she has young babies at home, I don't understand why she would do it. If it's for publicity, she already had a lot of it because of her extra marital affairs.

    THAT was what I was saying.

    Please don't twist and say I said she deserved to be raped because of her past or because she left her kids.

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  21. Anonymous6:07 pm

    real journalists are very passionate people, you just don't get it. to go to the front line and get the first hand info for the audience (including you, Holly!) is the most important thing for a journalist. what a bimbo!

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  22. Real journalists can ask you the same question- holly, how can you do what you do? Write about such superficial things like sex and fashion, when there's corruption, poverty, civil unrest and real news in this world that requires our immediate attention? If you didn't realise outside of your little bubble, there's this place called the real world.

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  23. "Of course, no one deserves to be sexually assaulted. I'm not saying she was 'asking for it'.

    But what was she, her producers and CBS news thinking?!"

    For someone as educated as yourself, surely you know that the word BUT cancels out any intention in the previous sentence. For example, I love your work alot holly, but I don't think there's any depth to you work.

    You're saying "I'm not saying she was 'asking for it'", and then you said BUT. I'm not trying to twist your words, just reading into the actual intention of your context.

    N

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  24. Anonymous4:54 pm

    Hi Holly, this might come a little late as comments. I am from SG and now I live in the UAE. I agree to a certain extend that she shld have at least wore sth that covers the low neckline. The culture here is different not like wat we experience else where. There's nothing wrong in a woman covering such news but i guess she shld have done her research on the dresscode. It's a form of self respect and also a respect to their culture. at least it doesn't let imagination run wild. just my 2 cents worth..
    Kai

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  25. Katharhs11:57 pm

    Maybe in the future when visiting these kind of areas, women reporters should wear one of those combat overalls that states "Reporter". At least those won't get ripped so easily.

    And her crew should have formed a circle around her all the way. They've let their guard down and she paid the price for it.

    Sad to say that no justice was done. If it weren't for those people who protected her, I would have commented:"Nuke the damned place." But no... There's still hope.

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