Page 8 - issue 29 En

ELITE ISSUE 29, MARCH 2021

tRANSLATED BY MARYAM GHETA

COVER

fight like a woman

Prof. nevine mossaad, feps professor of political science
A storm of sarcastic comments exploded in my face as soon as I man’s mission. The fourth, fifth and sixth comments were similar in
their affirmation of the woman’s weakness and her constant need for
replied to a post published by a social media celebrity on his page. someone to protect her. One of the distinguished commentators cited
The number of his followers is estimated in the tens of thousands. the example of the Palestinian child Muhammad Al-Durra, who hid
The post was an image - which I am not sure of its authenticity - behind his father during the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 and his father
said to have been taken shortly after the assassination of the US wished to be shot in his place, but the cowardly Israeli weapon
President, John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963. assassinated the son’s childhood and killed him next to his father. He
wanted to say that the man protects his family even if his life is the
The president appeared to be covered in his blood while his wife, price. After that, many comments, by both men and women,
Jacqueline, fled from the car that had picked them up. The owner repeatedly cited the example of Muhammad Al-Durra as if after the
of the post mockingly wrote about Jacqueline and said, in short, search in the entire history of the Arab elite, the commentators only
that she ran for her life and left her husband behind without trying remembered one scene of nineteen years old, the scene of Muhammad
to help him. Walking in his footsteps, many people in the comments al-Durra.
presumed that all women in difficult situations would act like I thought that time has passed this stereotype of “the soft, gentle
Jacqueline Kennedy, that is, they flee and leave the people closest to gender" and that the woman no longer needs a man to protect her,
them facing danger without their help or assistance. but rather needs someone to protect her from the man. Harassment
For various reasons, this post provoked me as well as the many has turned from an individual phenomenon to a mass epidemic and
women no longer feel safe on the road, transportation, university and
comments that accepted its content and even added to it in mocking work as the lone wolves roam freely. Domestic violence has become a
the cowardice and selfishness of women. I was infuriated by the normal matter that crosses all social classes; this violence is directed
joking in the presence of the Angel of Death. I am one of those who at the senior employee as well as the wage worker, and the goal is to
love to joke and master it, but I am not one of those who like humor break the woman’s will in order to make her believe that she is
in serious situations, and definitely not in a serious moment as the nothing... nothing at all. Despite all this, here is a group of women
seizure of the soul and its ascension to its creator. This harsh who still limit protection to men without asking themselves:
verdict against the women provoked me and I found myself protection from what threat exactly? These women have not heard of
automatically recalling the moment President Sadat was ISIS women from whom men make time bombs that explode in a
assassinated, when the killers fired bullets at the military parade police station, market, or wedding in preparation for a day when
warlords negotiate and reconcile while their wives and their female
platform on October 6, 1981. There were those who hid, there were captives are under the dirt. Nor have they heard of female workers
those who escaped, and there were those who confronted them. The who are not scared of mice and cockroaches, but may let their
point is that in the hour of great distress, the idea is born at the children play with them because they are the cheapest form of toys.
moment, and the behavior is based on the revelation of the instinct. On a personal level, I had an experience to narrate in this regard.
With that being said, gender doesn’t matter and there is no One day, I alerted my kind home assistant that her little boy - and he
difference about it between a man and a woman. Usually I don't was still crawling - had caught an insect and is playing with it, and
participate in similar debates, but this time I intervened and wrote she responded with amazing spontaneity, "as long as he’s silent, it’s
that if the man had been exposed to a similar situation, he would okay” !!They were certainly not informed of the news of the
have acted the same. revolutionaries who were advancing the ranks of the demonstrators
with open sources of freedom and change... and also of the unknown.
Up to here, the matter seemed normal, an opinion versus an
opinion, and it was also normal for men to interfere to correct my But while the women's comments were depressing, my
granddaughter, unknowingly, wanted to renew hope in me. She
idea, but what I never expected was the reaction of women. One raised the water thermos which had the phrase "fight as a woman
commented on my response that we women are frightened by fights" written on it in English and drank it until she quenched her
rodents and terrorized by insects and she followed her response thirst. I did not know exactly whether what my granddaughter drank
with many laughing icons as a way of humor. Another commented was just water or did it hold an eloquent meaning. Whoever wrote
that men are the ones who protect us because we are unable to this phrase made women the basis for fighting, and that is certainly
defend ourselves ... so?! And the discussion entered a different path an exaggeration that is no less than the exaggeration in saying that
when a third woman stated that for the high honor that is not protection comes from the man, but on the journey to search for a
spared from harm until blood is shed on its sides is a metaphor for point of balance in society sometimes shocking statements are
protecting the honor, and that of course is the required, and this saying is one of them. My granddaughter noticed
my admiration for the thermos, so she offered to give it to me
willingly, but I persistently refused as she is tomorrow, and she is the
future, and she is the next, and she will need to return a lot to this
beautiful thermos to quench her thirst over and over again,
overwhelming her with rivalry and acts of confidence.
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