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In the beginning of July, a sexual assault allegation against Ahmed Zaki, a university student in Egypt, was made. This allegation led to several other girls starting to speak up against Zaki, and it led to the initiation of the instagram account, @/assaultpolice.
After the account was made, hundreds of girls begun sharing their stories on the account, and it was able to gather hundreds of allegations against Zaki. This grabbed the Council for National Women& #39;s attention, and resulted in the council launching an investigation.
"Zaki’s case also created a hole in the narrative widely used to explain Egypt’s endemic sexual violence problem, which unveiled class-anxiety within the Arab world’s most populous nation." https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200924-rape-power-and-corruption-is-this-egypts-metoo-moment/">https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200924-...
With Zaki& #39;s case unveiling a series of previous cases regarding sexual harassment/assault in Egypt, Zaki was arrested and instructed to await his trial in October. His case then drew an immense amount of attention towards the fairmont case which took place in 2014.
The fairmont incident was an incident where a woman was gang raped by 7 men in the fairmont hotel in Egypt, 2014. The woman accused the men of drugging her, taking her to the master bedroom, gang raping her, signing their initials on her body, then recording and posting it.
After this accusation, another wave of #MeToo 
https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt=""> erupted, with women recognizing the statistic that 99% of women in Egypt have been harassed and/or assaulted. With that, more women began speaking up on assault police and the revolution begun. https://dailynewsegypt.com/2020/08/13/the-infamous-fairmont-incident-what-we-know-so-far/">https://dailynewsegypt.com/2020/08/1...
The government then passed a law protecting the anonymity of women who decide to speak up in hope of protecting their safety. However, with the fairmont case taking off, the men accused of the fairmont rape contacted assault police, threatening the anonymous owners& #39; safety.
After that, @/assaultpolice was taken down for several days, which sparked fear and anger amongst Egyptians, as the threat to their safety was only reiterated through the account being taken down. This caused a huge outrage and revolution in Egypt.
This eventually caught the government& #39;s attention, who was able to arrest three of the seven men by the Lebanese border. This was considered a huge step forward, as the men had a history of getting away with their crimes. https://egyptianstreets.com/2020/09/26/public-prosecution-orders-3-alleged-fairmont-rapists-detained-pending-investigation/">https://egyptianstreets.com/2020/09/2...
With the hope that things have gotten better, Egyptian woman, Maryam Mohammed was walking home in Maadi after work, when men in a moving microbus grabbed her purse, which led her to being dragged across the asphalt to her death. https://egyptianstreets.com/2020/10/14/egyptian-woman-killed-after-being-sexually-assaulted-dragged-by-car/">https://egyptianstreets.com/2020/10/1...
This led to further outrage, which hence caused the arrest of two of the men; but no information has been released since.
2 weeks ago, after the anonymity and safety of the people that run @/assaultpolice was threated again, one of the founders, Nadeen Ashraf, released her name and story in a NY Times article, saying that she runs the account. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/world/middleeast/egypt-metoo-sexual-harassment-ashraf.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/0...
This was a breath of fresh air for young women and people in Egypt, as it finally was a demonstration of how much power the coming generation will have. Her article was also followed by the start of Ahmed Zaki& #39;s trial.
On Saturday, Zaki& #39;s trial began, and it& #39;s currently underway. It has also sparked more protests and women to speak up in hope for change and justice. https://www.arabnews.com/node/1746946/middle-east">https://www.arabnews.com/node/1746...
So how can you help? Although the normalization of sexual harassment is deeply embedded into the culture, if we want to change that, we have to start with ourselves. Here’s how YOU can play a part in ending the normalization of sexual harassment and rape culture:
Avoid using language that objectifies or degrades women. This means stop with the locker room talk, the rating games, the rape jokes, the “dishwasher” jokes. All of these things play a large role in building the culture that normalizes rape culture.
Other than not using objectifying language, start to speak out if you hear others trivializing rape or using degrading language. E.g. when your buddy makes a rape joke, don’t stand there and laugh, call them out on it, this decreases the chances of them making rape jokes again.
If a friend tries to confide in you, and lets you know that they have been raped, take them seriously, and be supportive, but dont try to “fix” it, listening is more important in this case. Here’s a great article for more information: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/smarter-living/sexual-abuse-assault-support-mental-health.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/2...
Educate yourself about the struggles women face. This means research about gender related struggles, talk to your female friends, listen to stories of survivors. This is so important because recognizing the struggles others face, is the first step to change
Be respectful and mindful of others’ physical spaces in casual situations. You have no idea what others have been through or what they’re comfortable with, be mindful of your proximity and physical contact.
Educate yourself about consent, and get comfortable asking for it!! This has been a very taboo subject in many cultures, and that needs to change. Again, learn about consent, and get very comfortable asking for it.
Reflect on your upbringing, the stereotypes you were taught, the roles you were given, the sexist phrases that you were told and those that became normalized. Start reflecting so that you can start recognizing patterns and the root of the issue at hand.
Even with the progress that& #39;s been made, there& #39;s still a long way to go, and it has to start with challenging micro-aggressions, speaking up, and listening to those who do speak up. Please share this, educate yourself, & have those difficult conversations. https://dailynewsegypt.com/2020/07/08/womens-rights-activists-say-silence-of-sexual-assault-victims-remains-main-challenge/">https://dailynewsegypt.com/2020/07/0...
