Victim-blaming is an integral part of the Pakistani society when it comes to crimes against women. When a woman goes out wearing a dress she likes and decides to be all by herself, it will be her fault if she gets assaulted or sexually harassed by men who think it is their right to stare at women and make them uncomfortable just because they are alone. In acid throwing cases as well, people suggest that the victim must have done something to deserve it. Not only that, this victim-blaming is also witnessed when a woman is killed in the name of honour, merely for wanting to choose the man of her choice. This concept is prevalent because no one tried to knock sense into the people who think that religion somehow condones this kind of approach.
And how can we forget the self-righteous people who keep commenting under the photos and videos of female celebrities, asking them to ‘cover yourself’ or ‘have some shame’ or ‘are you even Muslim?’, but the same people are the ones who follow these celebrities in the first place. The irony here is that they keep abusing and shaming female celebrities for their choice of clothes or a bold photograph, all the while stalking them and watching the videos they post. This hypocrisy is fast becoming the most common trait of our society, and it is important that we do something about it and address the issue. First of all, harassment of female celebs on social media and bullying of all kind (which is mostly targeted against female public figures) should be dealt as a crime. It is disturbing that people (read trolls) are able to get away with such behaviour and do not face any consequences.
Secondly, we need to start a debate in our public sphere as to how the culture of victim blaming can be put to an end. People should be educated that violence should not be justified and that women have all the right to do what they please. Their honour does not lie between their legs.
Published in Daily Times, September 25th 2018.