are stepping up their gender policing. To allay fears among conservative elements, they are regulating more tightly what is deemed acceptable behaviour for men and women. The direct targets of this backlash are those who visibly challenge gender norms -- in particular, boyat (an Arabisation of the English word "boy", generally referring to women with a masculine appearance) together with transgender men and women. In the past few years, dozens of articles and talkshows in the mainstream media have decried the spread of boyat and "the third sex" -- a term used disparagingly to describe effeminate men and transgender women. This media frenzy has propelled a moral panic that manifests itself in discriminatory legislation across the region, in police crackdowns and in campaigns to "set them straight". In 2009, Dubai began a public awareness campaign, "Excuse Me, I am a Girl", warning Emirati women of the dangers of masculinisation and attempting to set them on the path to "femininity". The National daily newspaper reported recently that police and the community development authority would collaborate to combat the spread of boyat. Plainclothes policewomen have been deployed in shopping malls and popular hangouts to catch women violating arbitrary codes of female dress and behaviour, although it remains to be seen what this campaign actually entails and whether any boyat have been arrested. The burka is nothing more than a symbol of man's oppression of women. You really do need to help to come down off that pedestal on which you've impaled yourself.