Forget journalism, balance, objectivity and all of that: This is a pure rant.

I tried holding my horses, I tried not to say anything because the whole issue has really been overdone. But how on earth do we even start to talk about a woman’s attire when we have a much bigger, sadder and savage crime at hands here?

Oh, forget the harassing mobs, forget the dirty words she heard or dirty hands that forced themselves on her. No, forget all that; let’s talk about the hot pink top, tight pants and blonde hair.

Are you justifying mass harassment against the Cairo University law student while mobs stood by laughing and filming because her attire was ‘inappropriate’? Well, I sure hope it doesn’t happen to you for what others deem an ‘inappropriate attire.’ Are you saying both the student and the harassers are in the wrong?I hope you never have to be subjected to a situation where people point the same finger at you and your harasser because your outfit was not proper enough according to their own of what is appropriate and what is not.

Please don’t be sitting on the beach of your private resort wearing your bikini and judging someone whose sole ‘crime’ was wearing a tight outfit. Don’t talk to me about how to wear venue-appropriate attires because while you enjoy the comforts of your car, private resorts and ‘liberal’ hangouts, she only has university to see people and hang out and feel pretty.

A young woman went to university thinking she’s looking nice and attractive—and be honest to yourself, we all want to feel attractive and pretty on some level. She woke up and decided to put on an outfit she believe looked nice on her and go off into the world she is still exploring. She’s young, single and knows these are the best years of her life. So she puts on an outfit that is, yes, too tight but it’s still black pants and a long-sleeved top. She’s probably allowed very little freedom in her personal life, she probably can’t stay out late or have man friends and probably looked forward to university all her teenage years so she can finally get a little freedom and maybe meet the man of her dreams. She didn’t exactly put on a bikini, she didn’t wear a short skirt or even a sleeveless top, no, she wore a very normal outfit that was tight enough to show her curves. But instead of meeting prince charming, she met a mob of cruel and disgusting prince savage.

The first hands to touch her weren’t those of her lover, the first time she experienced anything nearly sexual wasn’t in the sweet, romantic way she dreamed of, no. It was forced. It was disgusting. It was by total strangers. It was a mob harassment.

How on earth can we forget all of that and focus on her ‘inappropriate attire’?

In what sick world do pants and a long-sleeved top make for an inappropriate attire that calls for harassment? In what twisted mind does wearing a tight pair of pants and a top reason enough to unleash animalistic, untamed, savage and downright disgusting instincts in human beings?

If you think the outfit is too tight for university, then who knows, maybe someone will deem your long, loose skirt too colorful for the street. Maybe someone will deem you a whore for not covering your hair, and maybe someone will say you had it coming for wearing lipstick. What seems inappropriate to you must seem appropriate to others and what you think may be appropriate will most certainly seem inappropriate to others.

Even if you’re not saying she’s had it coming and even if you’re not justifying harassment; please do not even begin to speak about her attire in a situation of mass-harassment inside the supposedly-safe walls of university: Now this is what I call ‘inappropriate.’