I share my daily harassement experience #ENDSH

20 km is the distance between my home and my university

2-3 transportation tools I use to go to campus in case im broke and I can’t afford riding a taxi

5-7 are the number of times I get harassed while going to university and getting back home.

Care to hear the story?

I am always late; most of my mornings witness me grabbing my laptop back and running downstairs screaming “TAXI!”

Usually it depends on how late I am, just late or too late... If I am just late, I take the taxi to the nearest CTA station ( for all those who don’t know what CTA is , it is a large air conditioned public transportation bus , it is considered to be the most expensive public transportation tool ( yes .. 2LE!) yet it is rarely air-conditioned ..

In my first or second year , I used to get harassed on daily basis in the CTA usually my reaction then was silence and crying when I get back home .. you can never forget the first time a stranger put his hands on your waist , a stranger sitting besides you unzipping his trousers or that stranger staring at you in the most uncomfortable way ever.

The first time I decided to stand up for harassment was during my third year at college.. I was very tired, rode the CTA from Giza to Heliopolis, almost slept in Ramses and woke up in Caliphate Ma’amon street to find a 60 years old stranger sitting beside me and putting his hands – coldly and comfortably – on my legs. For a starter, I was silent. The stranger noticed that I woke up and slowly pulled of his hands.

I – then- shouted at him fiercely... pushed him of the chair and yes I jumped over him several times till he started screaming and then went to the driver and told him there’s a harasser out there. Shocked by his response “what should I do him?” I cursed the driver publicly before I went down the CTA.

When I went down, I was totally relieved.. I finally stood up for something I finally did something!

Three days after, I was about to face another harasser, he was sitting right behind me when he decided to put his finger between the two parts of the L shaped chair, I felt his finger in my back and I made a violent movement, I turned around quickly held his finger and broke it between the two parts of the chair.

The man kept screaming in an inhumane voice to the extent that the driver stopped the bus and came over running saying “3mlty eh ya anesa? We need now to completely separate the parts of the chair in order to get his finger out” I told him what he was doing and the driver with the approval of the whole bus said that what I did was wrong the guy’s finger was screwed.

I was frustrated and I start cursing the passengers and the driver and then I got out of the bus.

Here I realized something, if you are harassed and you decided to respond violently, you won’t have the people’s support around you why is that? Because one of the characteristics of being a good girl to the society is to get screwed and remain silent… once you speak your mind out , you’re a savage ill-mannered girl.

Yet, I knew inside myself that the guy whom I jumped on in the CTA and the one who I broke his finger will think many times before harassing a girl again.

Our society is a sick one : we always tend to blame the victim .. from all the times I was harassed and complained , people start blaming my way of clothing “manty eli labsa day2” people start blaming my way of acting in public “sotek 3ali” before they even start talking about the harasser .

One of my friends faced a very rough experience while she was walking with another friend, a group of boys gathered around them , one of them took off his belt and started beating her . all she did is that she ran and cry , the boys went after her .. no one bothered to do anything except for a shop owner who locked the two girls inside till the boys went away.

I was very harsh on her, I criticized the way she ran away not defending herself and getting of the situation humiliated

Yet, after 2 years , that friend kept getting harassed on daily basis, she is now afraid to get out of her house as she has the idea that every man in the street is a savage animal who is awaiting her .

Dear society, as a female I tell you this:

Stop blaming me for the harassment, if men can’t afford my way of clothing then they should “man up” and stop being a dumb-ass who think via their genital organs following their dirty instincts.

Stop blaming me if I acted violently towards the harasser, this is my body and he abused it, I have each and every right to defend my body.

Dear society instead of asking me to cover up, to stay at home.. before you separate me in public transportation , instead of asking me not to exist in places where men exist , you should know that I am a human , I am not an entertainment tool , I have the right to walk down the streets confidently