Anti-sexual harassment campaign in Egypt's metro

Nov 26, 2015 An anti-sexual harassment campaign recently took place in Cairo’s metro where comics were used to create awareness.

The campaign was organized by the “Imprint Movement”, an Egyptian NGO which aims to tackle inherent social problems in the Egyptian community.

Due to security restrictions, street demonstrations in Egypt have become difficult.  So the group had to come up with alternative ways to deliver their messages to the public.

Abdel Fattah al-Sharqawy, Founder and president of Imprint Movement, said:

“So, we thought of various creative tools that can reach the people and explain the story to them, and transmit a complicated message to them, without having somebody speak or be present in the street. That’s how the idea for this metro campaign was created,”

The campaign has attracted media attention and has stirred dialogue among metro passengers and Egyptian families.

Saeed Ibrahim, an Egyptian commuter praised the initiative, saying it should be introduced throughout the country.

“Beautiful, beautiful, this is education, this shouldn’t be hung here alone, it should be everywhere, including our homes, on our fridges, and at schools, and universities and colleges, and at sports clubs and youth centers, so we can follow it,”

Ahmad Nady, the artist behind the comics, commented on his inspiration for the campaign saying:

“At the end of the day, I’m a man, I will not never be able to relate to the subject as much as a woman could. So, I arranged sessions where I sat with my wife, my sisters and my friends, and other women I knew could have faced similar experiences, so that they can tell me about their experiences, but importantly their thoughts when they were going through these experiences, what did they feel? In detail. When they were telling me the stories, I would ask them, how did you feel at this point? Were you scared or angry? So, I started to form a vision,”