Dina Wahba approached Tahrir Square on the evening of Jan. 25 with her heart in her throat. She had heard of the protests that had broken out against President Hosni Mubarak, the man who had ruled Egypt her entire life, and she’d come to join. But this was her first public act of defiance; it was already nighttime, and she was there alone. “I was scared of the police, of all the men, of being harassed,” she says.

Once she arrived, though, she saw other women of all ages, veiled and unveiled, demonstrating along with the men. A friend took her hand and pulled her into the crowd. As chants arose around her, Wahba’s fears melted away.

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