Will Other Arab Women Follow Egyptian Sisters Into the Street?

It’s horrifying to watch: Egyptian soldiers viciously beating a woman, then peeling back her abaya to expose her torso and bra, before a soldier delivers one last stomp to her chest.

The image from a Dec. 17 crackdown on protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, circulated over the Internet and on news broadcasts globally, helped sparked a Dec. 20 protest march through central Cairo by thousands of outraged women. Other women had been attacked and stripped that day in what was clearly an attempt by soldiers to humiliate female protesters.