The Social Significance of Bars

Bars have a bad reputation, especially in the Arab world. Their mere association with serving alcohol is bad enough in any country with a Muslim majority and only to make matters worse bars became the refuge for prostitutes since according to how an Arab mind works if somebody is doing something wrong the he must also be doing all sorts of bad things -which is how somebody who's harassing a girl in the street justifies himself "if she's wearing like this she has to be a bitch" and also in politics, whenever somebody disagrees with the regime he is accused of being a traitor, a thief and all these sorts of insults that we're familiar with.

But, I think that bars in the states and in the western world in general has a much more significant role. A bar is somewhere where people could gather, chat together, dance, meet new people, have a conversation, watch a sports event, sing or have parties. I see it as a corner stone in a normal a normal social life in the west. A place to go when you're feeling bad, good, need to meet somebody, hit on a woman, especially hitting on women since in a bar is the perfect atmosphere for something like this. Girls come with the intention of meeting somebody already in their minds which makes it that much easier for guys to attempt to make a move on them. Booze is readily available, you could dance and chat, all the requirements for a perfectly good first date are there. And thats exactly what we don't have in Egypt.

If we just had a public space where it is well-known that anybody who's going there has the intention of meeting a person from the opposite sex then we're eliminating -or at least reducing- the amount of harassment that happens on the street where women are usually defensive and anybody with even the purist of intentions could be humiliated and even beaten -depending on the location :)-, and for all the conservatives out there, there shouldn't even be booze, just regular drinks or coffee or whatever, the only important thing is the concept itself.

Just another great idea by moi.