On February 6, 2013, Egyptian women marched in Cairo holding kitchen knives in the air to protest the sexual assault of 19 women –many of whom had suffered injuries inflicted by bladed weapons– during the celebrations for the second anniversary of the 2011 revolution. Following these attacks, groups such as Tahrir Bodyguard and Fouada Watch/I Saw Harassment (part of OpAntiSH), that had been intervening since late 2012 on Tahrir Square to deter and stop mob sexual assaults during protests, began to offer free self-defense courses for women, translating the experience gained on the square to the private spaces of neighborhood gyms and fitness centers. Away from the spaces of protest, these workshops stretched beyond the activist scene and addressed a broader section of Egyptian society, the “women of Egypt” who were regularly groped in public places. This approach was popularized by a series of events that, under the name Igmadi (Stay Strong) included Zumba classes, awareness-raising sessions organized by anti-harassment organizations and self-defense crash courses taught by women. This paper examines the popularization of self-defense courses among Egyptian girls and women since early 2013 and investigates the effects of this anti-harassment strategy at the individual and societal level. Drawing on feminist literature on sexual harassment and urban geography, it analyzes how self-defense courses help Egyptian women to overcome fear of rape in public places and to feel more confident when walking on the streets by providing a toolkit of potential reactions –including not only physical moves but also the use of the voice, the look, and body language– that can be mobilized to confront a harasser or, in more extreme situations, to free oneself and escape. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Cairo between September 2014 and May 2015, the paper explores how these emergent communities of women teaching self-defense to other women have become safe spaces where participants share and discuss experiences of violence and strategies for change. Finally, it reflects on the impact that the generalization of these strategies among Egyptian women can have for the spatial renegotiation of urban gender relations following the 2011 revolution.