After 10 days of hot competition between dozens of series and programmes during Ramadan, the Supreme Council for Media Regulations has issued its first primary report of Egyptian TV series and advertisments which have flooded viewers’ screens since the beginning of the holy month.
The domination of violence, sexual insults, and cursing, has been used in these programmes to grab the attention of as many people as possible. Beating the competition, regardless of the inappropriate content, has become the number one priority for Egyptian t.v series for years in.
The report solidified the theory by stating that among the variety of t.v series, “only a limited number of programmes stuck to the rules of general ethics, while the rest relied mainly on verbal vulgarity, erotic scenes, and political projections without paying any attention to the delivered message.”
In three sections, the report documents the programmes whose scripts exceed the limits.
Describing the various series with presenting “a never previously screened amount of effrontery, abruptness, and insulting content,” the report has stated some of which top the list in promoting sexual content.
“Khalsana Be Sheyaka” comedy show of the stars Ahmed Mekky, Shiko, and Ahmed Fahmy has climbed to the top of the list in displaying unethical sexual content, which includes sexual insults.
The series tells the story of a war taking place in 2041 between men and women after technology has destroyed the world and humans are back to survive using only the basics. The series shows the history of a war between the two genders, each wanting to wipe the other off the planet.
In a supposedly funny way, the show depicts the difference between males and females, through each side preparing for the war. The series displays the differences in terms of their interests, decision taking, and sexual needs. Meanwhile, it takes the audience back in time to how the war started between them because of their ignorance in relationships, and shows the deceptive behaviour both genders adopt while dealing with the other.
The report condemns the serie’s choice of words, such as referring to winning the war as “taking over women in bed.”
In many aired episodes of “Khalsana Be Sheyaka” they portray women who have had sex before marriage as undesirable and not fit for marriage.
“I want to marry a wrapped, untouched girl,” an example of the series nagative portrayal that was deemed sexually offensive and insulting.
The report also stated that the series displays sexual harassment in a comical and ordinary way. The show has included scenes of men sexually harassing each other after they ran out of eucalyptus oil, which swipes away their physical attraction to females.
Highlighting sexual insults was not the only accusation “Khalsana Be Sheyaka” received. The report also attacks the series for negative politcal imagry of a sadist leader who enjoys torturing mass while laughingly saying, “do you really think I’m a democratic leader?!”
The report also listed several other t.v series that depict shocking sexual content, including a scene of a man having sex with his wife’s best friend in one of the most watched series “Le A’la Se’r” (For the Highest Price), starring superstars Nelly Karim, Ahmed Fahmy, and Zeina.
Haifa Wahby’s series “El-Herbaya” was also one of the shows that was heavily criticised for “almost not having one scene without a sexually related content”. The report mentions one of the scenes where a police officer threatens Wahby and another actress, where he told his colleague, “look at those two hotties. Let’s hear the symphony of your pampering them.”
Before the report release, the series also managed to raise a wave of heavy criticism on social media due to a scene where Wahby goes to the pharmacy in order to buy a hymen because she’s getting married and she has to be a virgin.
Dressed in a long veil, unlike her usual extremely tight and revealing outfits in the series, also criticised in the report, Wahbe asks for the cheapest hymen she can get out of three different kinds offered by the pharmacist.
The scene was met by people strongly denying that a woman’s honour is still connected to being a virgin, while others defended her by stating that she plays the role of millions of girls in the Middle East.
The report also condemns shows presenting a bad image of police officers, like “Kalabsh”—a series in which Amir Karara stars—which shows dirty officers of the Ministry of Interior. Another series that portrays a negative image of police officers is Adel Imam’s “Afareet Adly Allam”, which screens corruption in parliament and in the Ministry of Culture.
As for prank shows, “Ramez Taht El-Ard”, the most watched TV programme for young actor Ramez Galal, has been met with several accusations in the report.
“Ruining Egypt’s reputation” is the main accusation the programme is met with in the report. That is due to the severe anger showed by international superstars after knowing the truth of the programme. The report described Galal’s programme with “Silly” and full of insults.
As for Ramadan ads, the report also accused the ad of “Beit El-Zaka El-Mesry” with ruining Egypt’s reputation.
The ad, which was stopped upon direct orders from Ahmed El-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, displays an elderly unprivileged woman who has to walk every day for miles in order to reach the nearest water source, only for the ad to show the water as greenish and containing algae.
The ad’s donation goal backfired, when hundreds of people criticised it for asking the public to perform the role of the government government.
