Cultural Insensitivity

Watching last night's episode of The Amazing Race, I literally cringed at what I saw was extremely disrespecful behavior by Lyn and Karlyn. In Kuwait City, one of the single moms from Alabama went up to an Arab man in full kaffiyeh and dishdasha, putting her hand on his back in an effort to persuade him not to assist another team. The man was visibly bothered by this gesture and in a great show of restraint, just kept walking instead of lashing out at her. Adding insult to injury, Karlyn (or was it Lyn?) was wearing a sleeveless blouse, which is extremely revealing by the standards of the Arab world. I suppose the equivalent would be a topless woman coming up to me on the streets of Cambridge and patting my butt. (Only thing is, I really wouldn't mind.)

When I was in Cairo, I made a special effort to abide by the customs of the host country, which meant wearing pants, despite the 100-degree temperatures and the heat rash I developed. While it is not necessarily indiscrete for men to wear shorts, it's just something that's rarely done in Egyptian society, and I strongly believe is the concept of "When in Rome." It bothered me to see so many female Western tourists in shorts and tank tops. I am sure their attire was chosen out of ignorance rather than as an affront, but either way, the disrespect was striking.