Quick story via AP about street harassment activism and resistance to it in Egypt yesterday:

“CAIRO (AP) — A group of Egyptian men had a mission for this year’s Eid al-Adha, Islam’s biggest holiday, which began Friday. They wanted to make some effort to stop sexual harassment of women, which in past years has spiked in Cairo during the holiday celebrations with the crowds of rowdy men in the streets.

Their idea was simple: to patrol downtown Cairo and shame men who harass women by cornering them and spray-painting “I’m a harasser” on their backs.

That proved pretty much impossible, however. The small group was outnumbered by boys and men who mocked them, some of them blaming women for bringing harassment by the way they dress.

Gathering on Friday afternoon on Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, about 20 men — mostly university students — donned neon yellow vests marked “Anti-Harassment.”

They steeled themselves for confrontation with the throngs of young men and boys who had taken to the streets with spending money they received as holiday gifts on the first day of the four-day Eid, or Festival of Sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims worldwide. Many in the crowds were blaring air horns and other holiday noisemakers.

“There’s no solution but grabbing them and trying to stop them,” said organizer Shadi Hussien, 19. “If there were (anti-harassment) laws, we could discuss those. And if the police did their jobs, then we wouldn’t be here.”

Hussien and the group of mostly strangers who he organized through Facebook and Twitter say their effort is a last-ditch attempt at forcing the new Egyptian government to respond to sexual harassment, a reality of daily life for Egyptian women.

Notably, no women showed up to join their group. “No women are coming today, it’s too dangerous,” Hussien said. “They might be attacked.”

The only two women that showed up were Egyptian journalists covering it. “I expect there will be problems today because of this event,” said Aya Dabis of the Egyptian paper The Seventh Day.

In past years, the Eid has seen major instances of harassment, with crowds of young men groping passing women — so heavily that women had to flee into shops, and for days afterward newspapers decried the mob attacks.”

Bravo, to the male allies for taking a stand!

Once again, I turn to Egypt for inspiration.

Yesterday, about 25 members of the new “Catch a Harasser” movement and members of the Egyptian Democratic Institute in Baharia held a silent protest in the northern Delta city of Damanhour (near Alexandria) to speak out against street harassment, which increases during holidays.

Via Ahram Online:

“Contributors, women and men, carried signs declaring slogans such as ‘no to harassment’ and ‘catch a harasser for a harassment-free Eid.’

During the event, which lasted about an hour, participants also distributed a statement to drivers and passers-by, ‘Do as you please; you reap what you sow.’

The statement addressed those who sexually harass women saying, ‘I’m your sister, your mother, your wife, your daughter. Do you stand for my humiliation and the loss of my dignity?’

‘If you dislike my clothes or my walk, is that an excuse to molest me? If that was so, why do you still harass me when I’m veiled or fully veiled? All the aforementioned are just justifications you use to explain your shameful actions. I would like to walk freely and safely. I want your respect. No to harassment. No excuse for harassment. Harassment is a disease. You reap what you sow.'”

I love it!

Meanwhile, the women’s complaints office at the National Council for Women set up the hotline number 08-008-883-888 that people can call if they are harassed during Eid al-Adha.

Via the Egypt Independent:

“In a statement, the council said the operations room of the Egyptian Company for Metro Management & Operation would also collect harassment complaints at 16048 and 25-747-295, as will Fouada Watch, an initiative launched by youth to counter harassment, at 01-150-118-822.”

I’m glad these initiatives are underway and I hope they can help more people enjoy a harassment-free Eid.