The rise of social media in recent years has given unprecedented visibility to people from all walks of life, with a myriad topics shaping up countless conversations taking place at any given moment. In Egypt and across the MENA region, these platforms have contributed to the rise of the Arab Spring protests. Now, they are fueling another social movement to end gender-based discrimination and encourage women to speak up about all forms of sexual violence and abuse. One initiative aimed at harnessing the power of social media and digital chatter is DARE. Developed by Dina Issa and her husband Amr Khairy, the app aims to combat sexual harassment and abuse by exposing abusers, relying on user-generated content to create a database about predators. The couple started working on the app last July, at the height of Egypt’s #MeToo revival with high profile sexual abuse cases like the allegations against Ahmed Bassam Zaki and the Fairmont incident dominating the country’s media narrative. With plans to one day expand the app’s availability to the rest of the Middle East and North Africa region, the couple regard DARE as an immediate response to…
The Power of Social Sanctioning: The Egyptian App Exposing Sexual Abusers
January 16, 2021
