Someone hung a large full-color banner in the center of the roundabout near my apartment during the demonstrations on June 30. It featured Anne W. Patterson, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, with a red “X” across her face and the caption “Spinster, Go Home!” Patterson is married, coincidentally, but her purported bachelorette’s status was meant as a slur: Independent, single women are often viewed with pity or distrust in Egypt’s patriarchal culture. And however ludicrous an insult, “spinster” is more restrained than “pitch,” as the ambassador is frequently called in protest signage — Egyptians often confuse the English letters “p” and “b.”
Egyptians are angry with America these days.
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