Kuwait-based Twitter user @RBalli_ decided to shed light on the masked versions of sexual harassment women in the Arab world are often faced with.
How?
She coined a new term for the number of times men subtly harass women by lowering their voices - rather than their gaze - as a woman passes them by.
Introducing to you ... halal harassment.
"I don't understand guys who whisper 'mashallah' in your face ... like what is this, halal harassment?" Rawan wrote in the tweet.
This neologized term comes in handy, especially when men decide to use religious words like 'Mashallah' and 'Subhanallah' ... falsely believing that it makes their cat-calling less of a problem.
Except it doesn't.
"Harassment is harassment. You don't get to use god or religion as a cover-up for your sleaziness. That's the lowest it gets," Rawan wrote in a follow-up tweet.
The tweet has since gone viral, amassing over 3,000 re-tweets at the time of writing.
"...what is this 7alal harassment????"
Mixed reactions on social media
Naturally, the tweet earned the attention of thousands of people. Some praised her outspoken nature, whilst others shamelessly justified harassment in different ways.
"I think it's a form of saying: hey, you're pretty"
"In their twisted minds ... it's a compliment"
Others resorted to jokes...
"My friends whisper 'Astaghfirullah' in my face"
Welcome to the 3 stages of halal harassment
Others justifed this form of cat-calling ... except how about no?
Others took it a step further by calling it "polite flirting"
Reality: "this is how old men flirt"
"They're basically using religion to further enforce their entitlement"
Honestly though, Rawan's tweet is so mashallah!
Others shared their own versions of 'halal harassment' long before they discovered the term
Simply put: "this tweet is gold"
