Since October last year, following the viral ">Me too" campaign, millions of women have been speaking out about their >sexual harassment experiences.
In fact, the silence breakers were named the "Time Person Of The Year", as the simple hashtag became an international movement that was acclaimed by many.
From Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lawrence to women from all over the world like Palestinian Yasmeen Mjalli, the hashtag opened up the hearts of many individuals who faced sexual harassment and violence.
Here are 5 times Arab women stood up to their harassers:
1. Yasmeen Mjalli (Palestine)
21-year-old Palestinian-American Yasmeen Mjalli wants to break the silence about sexual harassment in the Arab World.
Founder of BabyFist, a clothing company that empowers women and promotes gender equality in Palestine and the Arab world, the young activist started designing jackets and clothing items that feature the sentence "Not your habibti".
Her campaign derived from her own personal experience of being harassed and catcalled in the streets of Ramallah.
“What I am doing is to start a conversation that people are really afraid to have,” she told The Independent.
2. Not Your Ashta (Lebanon)
Not Your Ashta is a Lebanese social media campaign against sexual and street harassment powered by target="_blank">The KIP project, which aims to support the "production and dissemination of information related to gender and sexuality in Lebanon".
It is a platform in which individuals feel free to share "empowering messages and vocalize their resistance against different manifestations of street and sexual harassment".
3. Your Silence is Harassment (Egypt)
Your Silence is Harassment is an Egyptian photo campaign that aims to encourage women to speak up and not let their silence be the reason behind their harassment.
The campaign wants to transform "societal norms and point a finger at the bystanders who are not standing up for women experiencing sexual harassment".
4. #Break_Your_Silence_Speak_Up (Saudi Arabia)
The trending hashtag #Break_Your_Silence_Speak_Up has empowered many Saudi women to break the silence, expose, and denounce the harassment they are facing.
The hashtag provides a safe space for women to voice out their experiences and stories of sexual harassment as well as physical and verbal abuse.
The prominence of the hashtag urges "for the abolition of the male guardianship system".
5. Mesh Basita (Lebanon)
The Lebanese campaign Mesh Basita wants to highlight that it is not acceptable for harassment to happen.
Part of the KIP Project, "the campaign stands for the idea that sexual harassment is 'not okay'. It also has a double meaning, suggesting that the person is not naive and will take a stand against harassment," Heather Jaber, communications coordinator for KIP, >told StepFeed in an email.