I love this piece, “Attention Men: If You Attack a Woman In Tahrir Square, You Might Get Your Ass Kicked, Finally” by my Egyptian activist and journalist friend Ghazala Irshad!
“Last Friday, over 300 men and women volunteers donned the reflective neon safety vests, helmets, and T-shirts proclaiming Tahrir a “safe square for all.” They stood at every checkpoint, atop watchtowers, and in the crowd. Members of another new group, Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment, passed out hotline numbers and instructions on handling rape trauma victims. A 22-year-old named Yasmine Abdelhamid said it was the first time since the uprising that she felt it was safe for her to protest in Tahrir Square again.
Tahrir Bodyguard says that compared to Tuesday, there was a significant drop in harassment reported to their Twitter account during Friday’s demonstration. Throughout the day, the organization was able to intervene — and pinpoint a new hotspot for mob assaults….
“Until last Friday, Nora Soliman had avoided Tahrir after being mob assaulted there last year. This time, she was armed with mace. When a man walking by and grabbed her friend’s crotch, her friend instinctively punched him while Nora maced him.
“It’s great to have the support of men, but it’s also important for women to do whatever they can to defend themselves if possible,” says Nora. “The women watching applauded us, and I think they felt empowered by seeing us retaliate. The men also seemed to see us in a new light.”
