“You are a man, so you must not cry. You are a woman; if you are harassed, you have to keep your mouth shut to preserve your reputation. I am against discrimination towards both men and women,” said Shady Khalil, a workshop facilitator in the BuSSy Project, commenting on how he detests hearing such stereotypical phrases. In a bid to break the silence and fear surrounding all types of gender issues in Egypt’s conservative society, Sondos Shabayek, the managing director of BuSSY, took a risky and bold step. She attempts to break down the walls of self-censorship and other social barriers to allow both women and men to discuss personal stories and problems on a public level. BuSSy is at the same time a performing arts project and social movement aiming to document and give a voice to people who are willing to discuss gender. Women and men step on stage to share stories about harassment, rape, gender discrimination, honor killing, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, motherhood, domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and many others. Issues like abortion, sexual assault, harassment or the absence of health and sex education…
