Egyptian security forces arrested a pastry chef who supplied cupcakes with penis decorations for a private birthday party at a sports club in a wealthy Cairo neighborhood.
In the most recent example of the Egyptian state’s attempts to control public morality, which tends to target women, the female chef was arrested at her home after party participants shared photos of the cupcakes with members of the Gezira club and on social media.
State media reported that security forces identified the baker after receiving testimony from eyewitnesses.
The case attracted the attention of the Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, who oversees clubs like Gezira. Sobhy said his department would form a committee to investigate the incident and punish the alleged perpetrators.
The baker was questioned by the same misdemeanor court that recently tried Egyptian actor Rania Youssef on charges of “contempt for Islam and violation of Egyptian family values” after she commented on her own physique on a television program.
Earlier this month, two women influencing TikTok who served prison sentences last year for “violating family values” and hurting public morals were acquitted.
In June 2020, renowned belly dancer Sama El Masry was arrested for three years and fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds (equivalent to £ 14,025) for violating family values and “immorality”.
Egyptian tabloids loved to publish photos of the cupcakes, with the offensive decorations blurred. Egypt’s largest state-owned newspaper, Al Ahram, described the confectionery as “indecent and immoral forms”.
Timothy E Kaldas, of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said: “On one level, it’s hard not to be surprised initially by the absurdity of penis cupcakes that catch the attention of state prosecutors, police investigators, members of parliament and the press controlled by the regime. At the heart of the matter is not the prohibition of sexuality in the public sphere, it is the restriction of sexuality that is beyond the control of men ”.
Al Masry Al Youm newspaper reported that the confectioner was crying when she arrived at the prosecutor’s office in Cairo. According to the newspaper, she told interrogators that the club’s customers “came to my store and handed me pictures of genitals and asked me for cakes in these forms.”
After being questioned by prosecutors, the baker was released on 5,000 EGP (£ 233).