GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Sexual harassment is taboo in the conservative Palestinian society, and female victims of harassment stay mum for fear of having their reputation tarnished.

On March 29, activists in the Gaza Strip launched a social media campaign to encourage victims to talk about their sexual harassment experiences. The #MeTooGaza hashtag was launched on Twitter and a page on Sarahah (Arabic for Honesty) was created, which is a social media application that allows its subscribers to anonymously share stories and receive constructive feedback.

The #MeTooGaza campaign follows the global #MeToo movement launched in October 2017. Thousands of women and men around the world shared their stories under this hashtag to shed light on the sexual abuse they had suffered.

“The idea is to encourage girls to reveal the sexual abuse against them, to confront society and to stigmatize the offender, not the victim,” one of the organizers of the campaign told Al-Monitor via Twitter direct messaging. He preferred to remain anonymous for reasons he said were personal.