The first time I was molested,
Or the first time I realized that someone had molested me,
I was a 7 year old child.
He was an old man.
I was on the beach, and he took advantage of me being alone,
While my parents were away,
So he touched me.

He didn’t just touch me; he fingered me.
But I didn’t understand.
I got scared.
What are you doing?” I asked him.
“No, no, sweat heart, I’m not doing anything!” he responded.

After that, I got away from him,
Even though I wasn’t aware that what he had done was wrong to begin with.

When I was a young teenager,
A relative molested me.
When I confronted him, he lied.
And when I confronted the family,
They told me that I was falsely accusing him.
In my opinion, my family is like most Egyptian families:
They justify anything a boy does and they cheer him on.
And they oppress girls, with or without a reason.

Harassment is a difficult thing to go through.
And what makes it worse is getting blamed for being harassed.
Being a girl in Egypt makes me hate my existence.
And it makes me hate my parents for being the reason I exist,
And it makes me hate how cowardly and scared I am of ending my life and commiting suicide,
Because of everything I go through,
And all the barriers I face because I am a girl.