Nasser’s regime coincided with rapid breakdown of Egyptian public sexual conservatism

Evidence

In the new night-clubs and restaurants a visitor may see an astonishing sight. Young men and young girls sit together, publicly indulging in what the Americans call “heavy necking.” This is not entirely new—what is new is that the girls are no longer professionals of vaguely South East European extraction but young Egyptian Muslim girls of what I might perhaps be excused for calling good families. Such conduct would have been inconceivable up to a few years ago in what, despite all the social and political changes, remained a conservative society in its moral and religious aspects. It is now taking place on a wide scale, and is deeply shocking to those who still believe in the old standards and the old way of life. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1275

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s article ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — this is a mid-20th-century instance of a moral-panic-style grievance that the ‘good old standards’ were crumbling.