‘‘Of course I faced it growing up. ... The first time I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. Someone followed me on the way home and grabbed me. At the time, I didn’t even know what harassment was,’’ she said.

The free course was organized by Tahrir Bodyguard, one of several groups that have emerged to protect female demonstrators at street protests. The courses aim above all to boost women’s confidence and deter what organizers call daily harassment.

Women have also been coming forward to talk about attacks, defying long-held taboos in the conservative country.

One who spoke to private Egyptian television channels at length last week, Yasmine Al-Baramawy, described how a gang of men assaulted her for more than an hour near Tahrir Square, dragging her through the streets, tearing off her shirt and cutting her pants.

On Monday, Egypt’s National Council of Women also entered the debate, adopting activists’ view that the attacks are organized.

In a statement, the council said it ‘‘condemned the abuses suffered by Egyptian women from harassment and rape in Tahrir Square recently, which is systematic and carried out by organized groups to force women not to participate and express their views.’’

Images promoting Tuesday’s global protest — from Arab countries and elsewhere — have been among the most militant. The Uprising movement, for example, has turned a photo of a veiled woman brandishing a knife at a Cairo protest last week into a poster.

Another image featured on the page shows the late Egyptian singer Umm Kalthoum, an iconic figure in the nation’s struggle against Israel following the 1967 Middle East war. She is seen holding a superimposed kitchen knife, with a printed lyric from one of her most famous songs that says: ‘‘Patience has limits!’’

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