Monday, August 5, 2013

The Bearded Lady Bandit of Egypt, Zein Khattab Ghanzala - 1960


FULL TEXT: Cairo (Nana) – It’s a woman’s world – even in Egypt where man has ruled the household with an iron fist ever since the days of the pharaohs.

That’s what police discovered when they finally trapped and arrested a bearded 37-year-old bandit named Zein Khattab Ghanzala who for the past 10 years has terrorized the entire Behaira Province in the Nile delta.

Zein, known as Egypt’s “Al Capone,” kidnapped dozens of Egyptians and collected untold thousands of pounds in ransom.

Members of Zein’s roving gang were said to tremble in their leader’s presence, and Egyptian farmers hurried home from their fields before sunset for fear they would be robbed or hacked to death by this notorious highway bandit.

But when police finally found the gang’s secret hideout and hauled Zein off to jail, they got a rude shock.

Ordered to disrobe and take a bath in jail, the bearded Zein blushingly refused, declaring:

“I cannot take off my clothes in front of men – because I am a woman.”

Three doctors hastily summoned by the police testified that the terror of Behaira Province was 100 per cent woman despite the beard and muscles hard as steel.

Collapsing in tears, Zein Explained:

“I began to grow the beard when I was only 14. After that no man would look at me. So I vowed to terrorize these weakened male creatures – and I got my revenge in kidnapping and plunder.”

Zein also confessed to moments of female weakness.

“There were nights,” she said, “when I yearned for a man to hold me in his arms. On those nights I would dress to women’s clothes, hide my face and walk through the fields. But every man who saw me would think I was a ghost and run away. Men – I hate them all.”

[Charles P. Arnot, “Egypt’s Fierce Bearded Bandit Found to Be Man Hating Girl,” The Milwaukee Journal Green Sheet (Wi.), Feb. 16, 1960, p. 1]

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For more cases of misandric fixation see: What Is Misandric Fixation?

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[590-5/6/21]
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2 comments:

  1. Yes, she was a murderer and a bandit, but honestly, her backstory is pretty sad.

    ReplyDelete