ABSTRACT

Fourteen Egyptian women members of the Muslim Brotherhood organization stood behind bars in an Alexandrian court in November of 2013. They prepared to stand trial for allegedly inciting violence in Alexandria in the preceding month.1 They were young. Seven of them were only 15 and 17 years old. The girls were uniformly dressed in white, with white veils covering their hair. Their youth, purity, and innocence were accentuated by the anxious scrubbed faces peering from behind the bars. Their age, gender, and dress prompted newspaper reports to call them “virginal.” In fact, in no time at all, the trial and its subsequent proceedings were dubbed “The Virgin Trials.” Looking straight at the cameras, smiling, and turning to talk and giggle with their friends, these young girls seemed like any other regular teens their age. Except that they weren’t. This group of young women swathed in white standing trial in an Alexandrian court were not perceived like other teens their age. They were accused by the state of being members of a terrorist organization, blocking roads in the city and inciting violence against the government during the protests of October 31.