ABSTRACT
In the midst of chants of “hope” for a new future, women reporting and women demonstrating in the 2010–11 Arab Spring risked sexual harassment, groping and even rape. Victim blaming and slut shaming are common responses to violations against women in many parts of the Arab and Muslim world. A journalist herself, Rym Tina Ghazal analyses the ways in which the #MeToo movement triggered a discussion in this part of the world but did not have a powerful impact. The chapter documents the thousands of ordinary Arab women who have made their voices heard on social media even without the leadership of celebrity women, responding with the Arabic translation of “me too”, ana kaman. The author offers an analysis of the reasons for the silence of women on sexual harassment and notes the fraught nature of the debate in a region where sexual harassment behaviours are often dismissed as “cultural”. In conclusion, Ghazal considers what could possibly be the “tipping point” for a #MeToo-like movement in the MENA region.
