Echoing Screams

Stockholm, Sweden, December 20, 2012— Aliaa Magda Elmahdy stood naked but for an Egyptian flag held behind her with the words “Sharia is Not a Constitution” written in red marker on her skin. She was flanked by two women from FEMEN, a feminist group founded in Kiev in 2008. The women of FEMEN were also naked and covered with black marker speaking out against Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi. The three gathered to protest the voting on the draft constitution that included the laws of Sharia in it.

I do not profess to understand the intricacies of this complex political situation. I am interested, as most people are, on the attention, influence, and impact of an unclothed young woman reclaiming her body before the world in a culture that hides women under the veil. I am interested in what feminism means today, in a culture where it can incite death threats on a daily basis.

I am not the only one. Over the past few weeks, my stats have soared. Everyone wants to sneak a peek at Aliaa, but to what end, I will never know. I have wanted to address this, address the voyeurs. Wanted to go beyond the surface and into the dark and murky waters where few dare to go.

I have been following her blogs over the past year, and in light of the gang rapes in India, I was moved to share a story that a reader had sent to Aliaa, who posted it on Echoing Screams back in October. I reprint it here in full.

~*~

I got raped aliaa

They raped me in cairo

6

Egypt is the dirtiest country

Perverts, bullies and thieves

They took all my stuff

My clothes, cell phone, gold, ipad and bag

The raped me for two whole days, Aliaa

Do you know an area called Al Mokattam?

I was with a friend of mine in his car

They beat him, kidnapped me and made me board a bus by force as if they were police officers

They had guns and large knives

They took me inside a house in an agricultural area called Osim

There was a large agricultural land in front of the house and a huge mountain behind it

I suffered a lot

They did inhumane things to me

I can’t report it to the police

My brothers and my family will slaughter me if they knew, Aliaa

A dirty society!

I got physically sick and underwent a hemorrhoids operation

The problem is that they taped me with my cell phone

I got injured in all my body and bleeded

They beat me hard

The humiliated me like never before

They view me as a slut

and a girl who goes to houses (to have sex)

They took drugs and humiliated me

They treated me as a dog for the whole two days

and invited their friends to rape me

You won’t believe what they did to let me go

They made me have sex with a donkey to let me go

after two days

and laughed at me, taped me and beat me

They didn’t want to let me go until the donkey ejaculates

Can you imagine this?

I don’t want to be disgraced in front of my family

I hate Egypt

The truck driver who drove me home and brought me clothes sexually harassed me while I was tired and not able to open my eyes

And they say that Egyptian people are noble

They are the dirtiest people in history

I was wearing something like a beach cover up only and was naked under it

They even refused to give me my bra and underwear and made me walk barefooted

You know what? They refused to let me go to the bathroom

and made me pee and poop in front of them on the floor and laughed at me

I never imagined there were people like this

They made me kiss their feet and do other things to let me go and didn’t let me go before two days

They made me bleed from my vagina and anus

and none of the six sympathized with me

I screamed from pain till I lost my voice

and they stabbed me with a penknife or a blade

on my behind

They told me that they must leave a mark on me

I want to leave Egypt

This happened 57 days ago

and I might be pregnant

but I told my mum

Mum is weak and oppressed

She said to me: Don’t tell anybody. If your father or brothers knew, they will slaughter me

The problem is that after I bled from my vagina, they continued

I feel that I’m pregnant

If I were pregnant, mum will take me to a doctor in Alexandria to abort the baby

I’m afraid they might find me anyhow and come to me again

They have all my personal belongings