Daily Times

Nothing crosses the manufactured East-West culture divide quite like women speaking out against misogyny and sexual violence. Sadly, this is not because the world sits up and listens intently to women; allowing them to complete their sentences uninterrupted. That really would be asking for a bit too much. But, rather, in terms of the rush to make excuses. For the men who stand accused.

Here, in Pakistan, the situation is no different. In the aftermath of the Zainab rape-murder case, there has been much talk among the chattering classes and, indeed, in newsrooms across the country, about how this is a society non-conducive to relieving the sexual frustration of men. After all, the apologists cry, the country is infamous for topping the list of nations searching for online porn. And then come the verbal admonitions, as we have seen across the border in India, whereby women are advised from making documentaries for the global audiences about sexual crimes committed by poor men. Men who may or may not be illiterate. But we all know that men don’t rape because they are unschooled. If this were the case, then Dominique Strauss-Khan — who as the former head of the IMF was one of the most educated and sophisticated men in the world — wouldn’t  have tried to get away with what he did in that Manhattan hotel room.

There has also been talk of how brothels should be legalised all over Pakistan to prevent the suffering of any more Zainabs. Unsurprisingly, these are conversations held by men; those who believe that the key rests in having men pay for sex so they won’t go out and sodomise seven-year-old girls. Or put another way, the answer is to reduce women to nothing more than commodities to be bought and sold on the open market. And what happens if a man cannot afford the going rate? Will these establishments be state subsidised? Or will men just grab for the taking that which they can’t afford; wrongly believing that sex workers can’t be violated? Given that we live in a county whereby its most famous (and courageous) gang-rape victim was told by the highest court in the land to consider herself fortunate that she was a 30-year-old or so divorcee and not a virgin in her late teens seeking marriage — do we really imagine that protecting sex workers’ rights will feature high on anyone’s agenda?

Over in parts of the West, it is a similar story. One Belgian university professor, towards the end of last year, sparked controversy when he recommended that paedophiles be allowed to have sex with child sex robots to stop them from attacking real live children. While manufacturers of adult sex bots have, in some models, included a ‘frigid’ setting whereby the latter doesn’t give consent. In short, the user then proceeds to rape his paid-for-robot. And just in case any doubt remains, consider that last year a female sex bot was molested to the point of destruction at an electronics show in Austria.

There have been suggestions that brothels be legalised all over Pakistan to prevent the suffering of any more Zainabs. It is a similar story in the West, with one Belgian university professor recommending that paedophiles be allowed to have sex with child sex robots to stop them from attacking real live children

Meanwhile the Hollywood sexual assault and rape scandal which involves real women has relentlessly spawned the immediate response of ‘not all men’, amid talk of organised witch hunts. Which, of course, is nothing less than a slap in the face to women everywhere given that it makes men the subject of all discourse. The latest example of this apparent backlash came in the same week as the Golden Globes, where actresses made the bold statement of wearing black to show that Time’s Up for sexual predators within the industry and out. The man-made jury is still out as to whether it might have been a bolder statement had these women collectively boycotted the awards show. Or whether this would have been little more than a form of self-censorship permitting men to once again monopolise the limelight. This was the same evening that Oprah Winfrey delivered a so-so speech to rapturous applause and calls for her to run for the White House. Nevertheless, this still doesn’t detract from the fact that she was the first black woman to be awarded the Cecile B DeMille award for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”.

Yet it was a different story over in France, during this same period. French daily Le Monde published an open letter (effectively denouncing the #MeToo campaign) signed by 100 of the country’s writers, performers and academics who declared that the “liberty to importune’ is indispensable to sexual freedom. Moreover, the signatories regret how “[m]en have been punished summarily, forced out of their jobs when all they did was touch someone’s knee or try to steal a kiss.” Frankly, that should have been enough. But the politics at play here dictate that copping an unwanted feel isn’t as bad as rape so women should once more put up and shut up. Leading this particular charge was French film icon Catherine Deneuve. Though she has since apologised for any offence caused.

Which may or may not be dissimilar to a certain American woman security analyst blasting Kim Barker, author of The Taliban Shuffle. For her crime was that she had recounted in her memoirs how a certain Nawaz Sharif made a verbal pass at her. It was seemingly not cricket to mention this given that he was married. Yet perhaps it should have been Nawaz who spared a thought for his wife and not the woman who was the subject of his unwanted advances. Just a thought.

The writer is the Deputy Managing Editor, Daily Times. She can be reached at mirandahusain@me.com and tweets @humeiwei

Published in Daily Times, January 16^th 2018.