On Tuesday, Oct. 13, Mariam Mohammed was murdered on her walk home from work in Cairo, Egypt. She was talking on the phone with her friend when three men in a white minivan started verbally harassing her. Mariam started to run away when she sensed the danger she was in, but the men, in an attempt to rob her, grabbed her backpack, dragging her on the asphalt for 10 meters.

The 24-year-old woman was left on the street dead, her body bruised with the markings of a sick society that prospers on the butchery of women.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, the two criminals, Walid Al-Swaify and Muhammad Al-Sagheer, were arrested by the Egyptian authorities. Despite having criminal records for a similar crime, both of these defendants were on the loose.

Over the past two days, news sources and social media platforms have been flooded with Mariam’s story. As usual, heated debates started on the internet between people who recognize women as human beings and those who think Mariam is to blame for committing the transgression of leaving her home. What’s going to happen next? Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, everyone is going to forget about it.

As a young woman growing up in Egypt, I became numb to the horrific harassment stories I heard daily. I would read a story about a woman who got raped, robbed and discarded on the highway, and then get into an Uber with a stranger and try to repress the very real thoughts that I might not make it to my destination. Yesterday, Mariam was murdered; today, it might be another girl; tomorrow, it might be me.

Since I was a child, I was taught to think twice about my outfits, arrange early rides home with my friends and continually doubt the intentions of all the men around me. As I internalized these concepts, the line between normalcy and oppression became blurred. My male friends live their lives unapologetically, arranging late-night outings, travelling alone and walking on the streets without fearing for their lives. These are things I have never experienced — and doubt I ever will — while living in Egypt.

Last July, the discussion surrounding sexual harassment spiked in Egypt after a flood of testimonials reporting a 21-year-old man for harassment and rape circulated on multiple social media platforms. In only a few days, a #MeToo movement sparked across the country, exposing thousands of men. The entire movement began on social media and escalated thanks to an Instagram account, Assault Police, which currently has over 200,000 followers.

It was nearly miraculous for Egyptian society to even entertain women’s voices and listen to their stories. What scares me the most is that in only a couple of months, many of these stories have been swept under the rug. Despite the fact that many of the harassment stories made it to the headlines, most people have already forgotten the names of the victims and the identities of the perpetrators. Most of the accused perpetrators have not yet faced any charges. Many of them have even fled the country or were released a few days after their stories surfaced.

When people hear petrifying harassment cases day after day, they begin to minimize the importance of the problem and become desensitized to these detrimental issues in society. The harassment epidemic in Egypt is rooted in this toxic mentality. Until women in Egypt can feel safe going back home alone after work, we cannot stop talking about the lives of these women and the brutality of this violent mindset.

Yes, we need education, but that is not enough. For hundreds of years, we have been calling on parents and schools to educate their children. But without accountability, nothing will change.

What we need is coverage, support and a justice system that serves the rightful punishments to perpetrators. It is time for international media to expose harassers in Egypt to the entire world. Without that, we are getting nowhere. Without that, these gut wrenching criminals will continue to think it is okay to harass and rob young women peacefully walking on the street.

I want to see harassers held accountable. I want to see rapists do prison time. I want to see witnesses come forward with their truth, without the fear of shame or death. I want to see people remember and repeat Mariam’s name for years, not just until another horrifying story makes it to the news.

I don’t feel safe living in Egypt. I am terrified of becoming the next headline and vanishing with the thousands of women who have suffered injustices in this country. And until every single person understands that Egyptian women need to be treated like human beings, I will not stop talking about it.