"Marriage proposal # 357 and some other booty calls"





If you´re an Oriental Dancer performing in Cairo you get, on a constant basis, at least, these kinds of proposals.





The marriage ones which can be divided into:


1. Naif, ultra-romantic, idealistic proposals from men who come to your shows, from your musicians and staff (the ones who are brave enough to aproach you that way) or fellow artists (singers, other dancers, people who see you around in this business). These men put you on a pedestal and IMAGINE who you are from there. They fall in love with the DANCER, not the person.


They also expect that this DIVA they "fell in love with" will stop dancing alltogether as soon as they marry you, turning you into a "respectable lady".


Endearing but often imature marriage proposals come from these men who hardly know you but claim that Love knows no reasons. It just happens!





2. Marriage proposals from rich guys who just want to buy your body for a while or permanently. No romantic idealistic strings attached. This is a pure sexual proposal, disguised by the safe pretext of marriage.


They wish to parade you in public, after marriage, as their own precious property. Thy also expect you to stop dancing after marrying them. Non-negotiable issue.





3. The so called empresarios and managers who are, in their majority, pimps who know whom to pay to get the jobs for their dancers. They also think that, by marrying them, they will get extra income, better control over the dancers and sex. It´s buying three packs of sugar for the price of one. Extra money, control, sex. Yuppieee!!!!


This is the ONLY situation when the dancer is not only allowed to dance after being married but even work her ass off much harder than before because now her husband is eating from the same cake. "Yalla, habibty... Wake up and dance, dance, dance...(and I cash it inside my pockets, thank you, darling!!!)".





4. The men who meet you outside your dance environment and really get the time to know you. It s refreshing for you not to deal with the kind of people of your working space and it is exciting for him to imagine you dancing on stage like a Diva.


They fall in love with you, see how "you´re not at all like other dancers", present you to their families (never mentioning what you do for a living) and assume you WILL stop dancing and get pregnant within five days after you´re married.

Then there are the "booty calls":

1. Men who just want to screw you. No marriage proposal in the deal.

Usually dancers from the same environment - most of them already married and with children, cocky musicians who see themselves in the mirror and find Marlon Brando instead of their REAL faces, empresarios and Club´s/hotel´s managers who think they can offer you a month of performances in their places in exchange for sex.

Exchange of services, I guess and plain dirtiness. Part of this world, unfortunately.

2. Strangers who go to your shows or have seen your photos somewhere. They reach you through the mobile phone, email, Facebook, hoping that you will go out and screw a total stranger in exchange for money. Pure prostitution.

I´ve got all of these proposals so far. And yet another one from a famous business man who tried to reach me in every way imagination can conceive.
Wondering WHY none of them seems atractive to me!


The price to pay for being a DANCER in Egypt and a FREE WOMAN is, so very often, a heavy burden to carry. But I say, hey, it is worth it. Until a REAL MAN comes along and takes the person WITH the dancer. The LOVE with the love making. The WHOLE real deal.
Allelujah!!!:))))))