Another form of torture

Another form of torture

Ahmed Tharwat

War doesn’t just give us meaning of whom we are and where we stand as human, fighting evil is an inspiring ideal to rally behind, it also gives the American people a crash course about world affairs. With the war in Iraq and the scandal of Abu Ghraib prison, however, the advance technology and the prevalent presence of digital cameras played an important role in bringing not just the abuse that took place inside the prison, but it also brought Arab men sensitivity and sexuality to the spotlight and evening news headline. Americans were exposed to the painful fact that Arab men for a very exotic reason not just dislike being photographed naked especially around women. Muslim men in general like to keep their private parts very much private, and most of them would most likely avoid using public urinal fear of any public scrutiny. But what a lot of Americans don’t know is the unpublicized torture that Muslim men endure inside another American prison; the women doctors’ office and there isn’t any camera there to tell our stories. Stranded alone with a female stranger stripped half naked and talking about stool and bowel movements isn’t a picnic. Then being forced to go through the mother of all humiliation procedure - the manual colon check that forever leaves you with a permanent physical and emotional scar. I think women doctors get more out of this procedure than just medical information. Nothing can prepare you for this brutal treatment; when it is done, your relationship with your doctor becomes a messy one. You are helpless and all is left for you then is to confess to your doctor to anything you have or haven’t done. “Do you exercise?... yes of course I do! Do you take your pills? … Everyday Doc! Comes the reflexive response. Then going trough the painful process of giving a urinal sample in a sterile cup is an exercise that lacks not just the commonsense, but the proper diversity training necessary to work with Muslim men. Reading the instructions on the bathroom wall, which it is written in a graffiti language that should be reserved only for... well, bathroom walls, it is a mighty task for someone who does not claim English as his first language. But let me take a stab at it. “Take the cap off first,” is not a useful piece of information, nothing is left to chance. With culturally insensitive language, the instruction continues: “Push the foreskin all the way back.” But I can’t; it is already way back, in the matter of fact it is all gone. Like Jews, it is customary for Muslim men to go through the trauma of erasing their foreskin early on in life before they develop any linguistic ability to scream and curse. Then the instruction proceeds: “Begin peeing into the toilet first and without stopping” and goes on to warn us, “aim into the cup and get a small sample of urine.” That makes you wonder, what constitutes the proper urine sample. There isn’t a guideline to rescue you from breaking the peeing edicts. “To pee or not pee” becomes the eternal question. Maybe they should put our security color code alarm system to a better use; it could at least alerts us to the different urinal sample levels for different medical conditions? Embarrassed and confused, wondering when you should stop peeing, a knocking on the bathroom door usually does the trick. You rush out of the bathroom, avoiding the piercing eyes of waiting patients impatiently wondering, who is this guy, and why is he taking so long in the bathroom? If you really want to know, and before you call the national tip hotline, just check the cup in the small window. My full name and birthday clearly marked on it. No place to hide! 7/1/05

Ahmed Tharwat
Host of the Arab American TV show Belahdan
Airs weekly on MN public TV
952-933-6825
www.belahdan.com

ahmedtharwat@belahdan.com