Women, Don’t Stop the Screaming and Fight Back

I was scrolling carelessly through my phone, one post after another, until I came across  a video of tearful women confronting a man in elevator … and I froze.

The women’s voices were an amalgamation of anger, frustration, and fear, all at once, making it harder to ignore them.

It was a clip of US Senator Jeffry Lane Flake in an elevator, with two women screaming at him for the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the Supreme Court.

Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault by three different women. But his mere nomination by US President Trump was enough to turn events upside down.

“Kava-nope” and “We believe survivors” along with many other chants were used by protestors to show their disapproval.

The women on the elevator were trying to get Flake to vote against Kavanaugh; instead he said he’d wait for the FBI investigations.

Kavanaugh was however confirmed to the Court last Sunday. And the protestors considered this a disgrace to the entire US justice system.

I am not raising the issue of innocence or guilt. However, what needs to be considered is the response of the US citizens, especially women to an alleged sexual predator.

This is the type of response which I yearn to see women in Egypt adopt against any type of sexual harassment.

They considered it a shame in the US that their protests did not prevent his confirmation to the Supreme Court. But in Egypt, the simple fact that women would respond to their predators, even half the way that American women did, is a victory of its own.

Even if they want to, Egyptian women would find it hard enough to convict anyone, let alone scold a senator.

Within Egyptian societies, women are not only blamed for being sexually harassed, but they are also forced to witness other irrelevant parties give justifications to the predators, using all kinds of nonsense.

They are sometimes accused of lying, wearing inappropriate clothes, seeking attention, and many other inconsiderate finger pointing.

Not only is the predator left unpunished, but the punishment gets automatically transferred to the victim.

Just this summer, there was the viral ‘coffee in on the run’ story when a girl took a video of a guy asking her to have coffee with him, right after a video of another man verbally harassing her from his car.

Facebook users went crazy about how she trapped the coffee guy and spoiled his reputation. Instead, they started spreading baseless allegations of her conduct to not only ruin her image, but basically her entire life.

Despite her repeated clarifications that he kept following and harassing her, they seemed more concerned with his version of the story.

Whether you think she’s lying or not, you cannot just deny the unfairness of our society. Why didn’t we make this fuss about her other video where the guy was clearly harassing her? Why did we turn the coffee guy into an advertising star? And why did her employer decide to fire her from work as she later said?

We just couldn’t stand the fact that a guy is being unfairly treated, but the girl … doesn’t really matter.

That’s why I’ll always feel jealous of other cultures, where men get to be at least blamed for their wrongdoings, and women get to actually scream their hearts out while confronting their predators.

I know it’ll always be hard to speak out against both a patriarchal system and a backward society, but it’s harder to stay silent in pain.

Scream. Scold.

Rip his eyes out if you need to, but just don’t let him get away with his tainted hands to harm others and leave room for more people like him to violate women.