ABSTRACT

The shift to neo-liberal economic policies in Egypt over the past few decades has increasingly challenged men’s position in society and their role as breadwinners, responsible for the household and the well-being of the family (cf. Ali 2002; Abdalla 2007). Despite the way the notion of manhood and male domination is undermined by the deteriorating economic conditions in the society, recent social science research on gender in Egypt has largely investigated this issue from the perspective of gender-based segregation and inequality, that is, male domination and female subordination (Hatem 1986; Abu Lughod 1988; Rugh 1988; Sayed, El-Zanaty, and Cross 1992; Hoodfar 1999; Sholkamy 2004). Men have, by and large, been ignored (cf. Wassef and Mansour 1999). Specifically, socioeconomic challenges to men and their inability to meet societal demands by enacting their masculine identities through marriage, sexuality, providing for the family, or maintaining other expected social roles have received little scholarly attention. This chapter endeavors to highlight some of these pressing and ignored issues concerning men, which directly or indirectly affect women (cf. Silberschmidt 2001). In this regard, the chapter addresses subjective male experiences of emasculation and marginalization in contemporary Egypt and their connection with dominant notions of gender roles and state policies. By focusing on a group of migrants in Dahab,2 South Sinai, who worked in the informal tourist industry and established relationships with foreign tourists, I argue that these men experienced a multilayered process of emasculation that is interlinked with their relationship to the state, dominant constructions of

masculinities, and their transnational relationships. The chapter shows how these aspects are intertwined and how men’s position is strongly impacted by socioeconomic changes, leading them to adopt risky behaviors and practices that jeopardize their position in society.