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
Hanan (Anne) (not verified)
Luxor
Thu, 2009/10/01 - 18:40Hi it is me again, we have just come back from Luxor and took the children this time, they loved it, we stayed in an old hotel on the west bank and met up with egyptologists from USA, it made our holiday and they told us where to go, what to see not on the usual tourist itinary. I feel a love now for this place.
Spent a couple of days on the east bank and met one of the women we met last time, she was ripped off my a gigalo then, now, she has a new man, 30 years younger and different? I noticed she paid for everything and he ordered all the best food.
Some really don't learn. We were glad to get back to the west bank, Egypt is a great place, but I fear certain tourists are going to spoil Luxor with their antics, they don't even look at the sites, what a waste. From Anne and Khaled.
Anonymous (not verified)
anne married 12 years
Sun, 2011/07/10 - 18:53Hi I am 29 and met an Egyptian man who is now 34 years old (i have seen his is so I know this is true) 6years ago on a family holiday. He lavished me with gifts and said he wanted to get out of luxor and see the world. I did not take much notice of this and moved on one back home in Liverpool. 2months ago he traced me on Facebook and I have just come back from having a wonderful weekend with him. He has been to Mexico and London and is now living and working in Luxembourg. He met me off the plane in Brussels and gave me a beautiful present which was a pearl and diamond necklace earring & bracelet set. And he never asked me for any money at all.
We are planning to meet up again soon.
What I would like to ask you is does your husband smoke hash at all and do/did you have a problem with it?
Many thanks and I am glad to see not ALL MEN are selfish and just out for what they can get off women.
king tut (not verified)
For all foreigner
Tue, 2009/04/14 - 17:34Well Im Egyptian man and the problim only foreiger ladies just meeting the low level of egyptian men who working in torism placess just for sex,money,visa. and they flirting with forigner women and forigner women like this so much and they knows they lie to exchange sex by money. but you must know no anyman from high level in Egypt can look at any foriger or think he can marry her because they do not need anything from them. only poor Men who need visa,sex,money doing like this with them. so do not say all Egyptian :) Thank you.
Khalid
Agree and disagree
Tue, 2009/04/14 - 18:50I agree that the vast majority of Egyptian men are not like that, and that is why I wrote about this issue to begin with. The picture from Western women visiting resorts is very skewed and give all Egyptians a bad name.
I do not agree that it is purely a "low level" vs. "high level". This is class elitism at best, which is sadly very common in many countries, Egypt included.
I have met poor people from poor villages who have far better ethics than many rich people educated in private schools.
The issue would be better understood in what I have repeated in many comments: people working away from their extended family, relatives, peers and friends in resorts and tourist areas, away from the normal peer scrutiny of their parents elders and peers. Under such circumstances, coupled with the lure of making quick money, they quickly descend into prostituting themselves to older women, engaging in scams for money or visas.
In many places across the planet, tourist areas never give one a true feel of how the people of a country are like. This is doubly true in Egypt's tourist areas.
kajafont (not verified)
Not all Egyptians
Fri, 2012/03/16 - 20:36I agree Not all Egyptian men are bad just hard to find the good ones :)
Anonymous (not verified)
Is he real or....just a fake?
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 07:31Well...I have recently had an encounter..we met overseas in a working environment. I only spoke to him once before he departed we exchanged email addresses. We began emailing each other for about 2 months straight he seemed to like me. Although I wasn't sure but once he came back in my area we began to talk more. We became intimate. He just departed a couple of days ago. I am unsure of any of this being true about Egyptian men. I am only testing the waters to see if he is that way.I would feel really bad about the situation if he turns out to be the way Egyptian men are portrayed in some of these articles.
Anonymous (not verified)
help~
Tue, 2009/06/30 - 02:02me too, I'm not sure is he real or fake...but I do love him. After so much terrible stories, I made a confusion and think in him maybe as those liers... he told me I hurt him very much and angry at me very much. I feel so sorry and regret but no matter how much apologized to him...he doesn't answer me anymore. we met overseas in a working environment and also contact with each other on internet over a year... I feel so sad and don't know what is the right attitude to face this relationship.
Jan (not verified)
Don't apoligise any more
Thu, 2009/07/02 - 15:24Don't apoligise any more love, if he was real he would understand that you need to be careful, and he has proved to you he is fake because he wont speak to you now. Some Egyptians you meet will be good people, don't class them all as the same but forget this man. Regards from Jan UK.
Anonymous (not verified)
hi~ Thank you... I'll try
Sat, 2009/07/11 - 01:15hi~ Thank you... I'll try to take your advice and forget about all. thank you for replying me.
Anonymous (not verified)
thank you
Sat, 2009/07/11 - 01:37...I wrote him a mail and thank him for gaving me the happiest days in my life and I said to him good bye.
I don't know what to say... thanks for your clearly reply. I think maybe I was blind and became a fool... just...it so hard to think in him in that bad behavior... ...thank you again.
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