On May 20th, sectarian clashes in the village of Karam, Menya led to the stripping of a 70 year-old woman due to rumors of a romantic relationship between her Christian son and a Muslim woman.

After receiving several threats from the village residents who accused him of this interfaith relationship, the young man fled out of fear of getting killed. His family chose to remain in the village, and were left to face the aggressors. On Friday May 20th, these extremists not only burnt down 7 homes owned by those of the Christian faith, but assaulted the young man’s 70 year-old mother in her home, dragged her out on the street and stripped her naked.Unknown

Tarek Nasr, the Governor of El Menya, issued a statement to Parlimany, an online news site, asserting that “this was a minor incident; we shouldn’t blow things out of proportion”. What leaves us even more outraged is the fact that this story is only coming to light now, 6 days after the assault has occurred. On one side, it could be due to the fact that the woman feared reporting the incident until later. On the other hand, it could be due to our normalizing of harassment cases that women in this country suffer from on a daily basis. What adds insult to injury is the fact that this incident demonstrates that stripping a woman can be a way for someone to assert their dominance and authority.CjWJdjjUUAAKork

If we follow the Gorvernor’s suggestion to try and contain the issue and treat it as something “minor”, this could only lead to further assaults on women. In fact, it might discourage them even more from coming forward because they already know they don’t have the support of the general population or the policy makers.stripped

The hashtag #مصر إتعرت is currently circulating on social media with regards to this incident. Some people are showing their support for the elderly victim while others are stating that “Egypt has been naked for a long time already”. But just because Egypt has already been laid bare before, it doesn’t mean that people should regard an incident like this as ‘normal’. If anything, this incident should receive the coverage it deserves to create awareness about such cases and prevent them from happening again.