A word of caution for female tourists visiting Egypt: be careful of the many of the men working in tourist areas in Egypt.
Although the vast majority of Egyptians have a high sense of honor and good conduct, it seems that tourist areas seem to attract a relatively high concentration of people with lax morals, who would exploit tourists in many ways. It can manifest itself as persistent aggressive begging, peddling cheap goods, charging 10X the normal prices for services and goods, and what this article focuses on: exploiting female tourists.
Looking at the bulk of the comments on my notes on compulsory army service in egypt they are mostly from non-Egyptian women who married (or intend to marry) an Egyptian man, and army service has become an obstacle.
So, once you here the word "habibti" (meaning "my love" in Arabic), and before you call him "Habibi", let alone go down the marriage route, read on below for more information.
The exploitation happens in many forms, but is normally centered around one of the following:
Easy and Free Sex
Many tourists come from countries where sex is more freely practiced outside of marriage. Youn g Egyptian men working in tourist areas who
are not married see this as an opportunity, and are met with acceptance from the female tourists.
A source for Money
Many Egyptian men who practice this scam view the "wealthy" tourist as a source of income. They keep asking their "girl friend", "fiance" or "wife" for money for various excuses, just like a professional scammer would play a confidence game on a victim.
An Opporunity for Immigration
Some of those men want to get out of Egypt, and see their marriage as a way to gain residence and citizenship in a Western country. The economy in Egypt has been stagnant for decades, and poverty, lack of opportunity and the high cost of marriage lures some youth to trying these tricks.
Why it works?
There are several factors that work in favor of the Egyptian scammers here.
One factor that helps is that most Egyptian men look desirable to Western women, being of darker complexion than their compatriots. The fact that the foreigners are white blonds work in making the women attractive and desirable for Egyptian men.
Another factor is that the woman is coming to the tourist place to have a good time. It may be a break from stressful work or study, or perhaps a past relationship. This helps blind her to what is happening.
Yet another factor is the cultural differences which also create temporary blindness.
Moreover, those workers being away from their village or city of origin, where they would be observed by their extended family and friends tend to make it easier for them to engage in sexual relationships and scams without being scrutinized by acquaintenaces, and no stigma is attached to these behaviors.
Finally, the scammers have perfected their techniques over the years, and are very skillful at what they do.
Blacklists
Blacklists have emerged on the internet, to warn potential female tourists from known exploiters. These have all the faults of user contributed content on the internet in that they can be innacurate, biased, or even rigged by rivals or pranksters. However, in the absence of any other information, they can be useful, provided they are taken with a good deal of skepticism and research and common sense applied.
- An overview article on what a "black list" is, at Arabia.pl.
- Dezy House: Blacklist for Hurghada, in English.
- Dezy House: Blacklist for Sharm El Sheikh, in English.
- Wanted List of Egypt.
- Egyptian Blacklist on Topix.
- KunstKamera blacklist.
Happens everywhere, not only Egypt
Before someone gets the impression that Egypt is a cesspool, and Egyptians are crooks, let me say it is neither.
The problem above is not limited to Egypt by any means. Any country where tourists come in to spend money has its share of exploiters. The above black lists have a Turkish one, and a Tunisian one, and there are lots of stories about French, Italian and Spanish men exploiting women tourists as well.
Of course, there is also the Russian bride fraud targeting well to do men in the West.
So, the problem is universal, although this article focuses on female tourists to Egypt.
Final Thoughts
There are many non-Egyptian women married to Egyptian men happily, so over-generalizing from the cases mentioned, or from workers at tourist resort is wrong. Chances are you will be happy with an Egyptian as a husband if you met him in a more natural settings, e.g. while studying or working, and getting to meet his family as well.
The "artificial" environment in resorts, being on holiday, and surrounded by some scammers lend itself to the disasters described.
So, beware ...
Further Reading
- Marwa Rakha: Relationship Warning: Do not get involved with Egyptian Men (also here).
- Global Voices: "Beware of Egyptian Men" says Canadian Embassy, also by Marwa Rakha.
- Trailing Grouse: Egyptian men marrying women for money.
- Yahoo Answers: Egyptian Men marrying foreign women to get out from Egypt.
- Sex, Sun, Stupidity and Gigolos.
- Amy Robson: n English girl who keeps falling in false love with Egyptian men (she finally returned to Britain).
- Someone searching on KunstKamera: for Honest Egyptian Boys?
- List if sites on Romance Fraud in German, and other languages.
- A movie documentary in the making on holiday romance, specially Hurghada.
- Female Sex Tourism on Wikipedia, has lots of links to extensive articles. While Turkey is listed as a major destination, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco are listed as "minor destinations".
- An article from a Canadian perspective: Sex tourism in full boom. Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic and the Caribbean are the major destination for Canadian women.
Comments
egyptian man (not verified)
i think every person should belive in himself
Sat, 2010/06/26 - 09:23i saw what wrote here i didnt like what i see any way every person have to trust him self doesnt need to hear from ppls to realize if he is true or false any way iam one of youth who wants to marry person not egyptian i don care where is she from but i care to feel of her first
and if these words are true i could marry to any one who i met or i talked with
but i have my personality and i want to feel the women i will marry
siobhan (not verified)
isit love ?
Sat, 2010/07/03 - 10:47hi i met this 3 year ago in my hotel , we just speak alot when i left we kept in contact wen i left by msn or text , so i went back to see him but styaed in another hotel but we met up at night just went cafes or disco he would then get cab back to hotel to make sure i got bcak safe, wen i got home i was really sad and i miseed he so much and he said the same , so i went back aagain in june this year he took such good care me and inroduced me to his friends he said he wnated me to go his town meet his family another time, he never once tried to get to sleep with him, he said he loved me , on the last day he bought lovely gifts that was so sweet , im home now but i miss him so much i will go see him again , do u think we have a furture or not ??
siobhan (not verified)
okay so im english and met
Sat, 2010/07/03 - 10:51okay so im english and met this egyption guy 3 years in egypt , i was 17 at the time and he was 30, nothing really happened we just spoke alot and got on really well, we stayed in contcact when i left by email and text, and then i went back about 8 months later and we met up few times and again got on really well, but this tiem i went back 2 eyars later and this time it felt so right to be there with him and he treated me so well and my firend who got sick, he said that he missed me, when i came home i missed him really bad so i went back again couple weeks ago, and we met up again and went discos and just chatted bout his life and family, he always inroduced me to his friends, 1 of his freinds said he loved me very much , before i left he bought lots of gifts that were beautiful and said he would miss me , he never once tried to get sex out of me, i home now and i miss hi so much and think i love him i keep haveing dreams about him, does any1 know what should i do , and if he really cares me or not ???
Isis (not verified)
Siobhan
Sun, 2010/07/04 - 02:12Two posts on the same subject matter and the first one in not so good English. Mmmmmm .... I think you are just amusing yourself to see what response you get. Actually its not funny - you are using the real life experiences of others to humour yourself and wasting time on this forum.
Hannah (not verified)
You are right Isis,this site
Sun, 2010/07/04 - 12:07You are right Isis,this site is useful to advise people how to behave and people should not use it for fun. from Hanan.
siobhan (not verified)
sorry
Sun, 2010/07/04 - 14:28hi sorry if you fault i was jokeing but im not, i had trouble possteing my comment and never meant to post the first one, but the second one is true i would not make a lie about this because this forum help alot of people and gives good adivise thats all i wanted if i have cause any offence i apolgize .
Isis (not verified)
The problem with your posts
Mon, 2010/07/05 - 08:39Siobhan - you claim you are English but your posts are written in Egyptian English and this is why your posts are not regarded as genuine. We're not silly. That is my final word on the subject.
mary (not verified)
hello everyone i was reading
Tue, 2010/07/06 - 04:58hello everyone i was reading this forum and thought i would put my experince with a egyption guy. I met this guy is sharm in a hotel about 2 years ago, at the start we just would talk alot about our lives and we became very close, he siad he would like it if i would go back and see him again, so when i came back to england we stayed in contact by emails or text, so i did go back a couple of months later i was very excited to see him again, this time i stayed at another hotel and we just met up in the night time and we would just go to coffe shops or the beach and just talk for hours and its was loevelt to spend time with him, i felt so safe i began to fall for him and i know i should not because his in egypt and im in england, before i left i cried bceacsue i was going to miss him he also said he would miss me , so i went back months later and met him again and was lovely again we went to dicos and he took such good care of me and always introduced me to his friends, one of his close freinds told he really did care me and always spoke about me , it was good because never once did he try to sleep with me , i had really fallen in love with him but am i foo to or could it turn into something ?? before i left he bought me lovely gifts and made me feel so speaical , but how can this work with me here and him there ? any advise please ??
Khalid
Stay away
Tue, 2010/07/06 - 09:53Stay away from anyone who works in the tourist industry in Egypt.
Most of them are master manipulators, and have a second source of income from expressing undying love to innocent and semi-innocent female tourists.
As for the "friend" he is probably returning the favor that your lover did for him on other occasions. Part of the play to make you fall for the trap.
Anonymous (not verified)
Feel sick
Fri, 2010/07/09 - 11:29I have been surfing on this site since the early morning. I was carried away by all the nonsense. What a conspiracy on this country!!!!, the country that opens the arms widely to all eastern Europeans, Arabs, Western Europeans and from all over, even from the States, all of you guys work, live in a luxury even without visa or work permit. And at the very end of the day you come to accuse Egyptian youth -that represents 40% of Egypt population- with traitors, cheaters, sex addict animals…act coming to the fact of your -respected-blacklist that is the number of what you are speaking about of the bad Egyptian characters you met willingly are less than 50, ONLY LESS THAN 50…….you even didn’t bother mentioning one of the thousands of the successful mixed marriages stories I witnessed here in Sharm el Sheikh for more than 14 years.
If you don’t like the way people live here why would you bother coming here walking in trunks semi naked in the streets. A behavior you wouldn’t dare to do in any European or Eastern European country. I am sorry but you have ruined my day off
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