Daily Times

For connoisseurs of popular showbiz or the fashion industry, a celebrity is the nucleus of their entertainment experience. Despite recent changes in the Pakistani mediascape, female stars and models are somewhat continuously lambasted and often hurled at with slut-shaming. Not being a critic of their work and being a critic of their personal life is rather ludicrous and displeasing. With the increasing synergy between film, television and digital media, the Pakistani female stars now straddle multiple platforms, effortlessly taking the roles of an idol, a television personality and a transmedia celebrity. However, as the stars engage with social media, often conflating their reel and real personas, slut-shaming starts to take a turn for the worst. A similar such incident happened to come to life when recently, Zara Abid, the model that died in the fatal aeroplane crash, became a target of slut-shaming.

It was not long enough that those brave “keyboard” warriors turned to their favourite warzone – the social media – to slut-shame the deceased model. Various internet trolls started sharing the late model’s Tik Tok videos and started arguing over her character – such is the ignorant mindset of our nation. The model went on to be targeted for her career with various low-grade bloggers and media outlets using her pictures, which would help them get more reach – muckraking had reached its abysmal zenith. Just mere hours after her death was confirmed, the high and mighty self-proclaimed “intellectuals” of the internet stood up to decide whether the deceased model will be going to heaven or purgatory based on her work. Some degenerates even went on to compare her with a prostitute, showing how messed up and twisted minds some people of our country have.

Pakistani workplaces are becoming a den for those beasts that prey on women, making earning livelihood a living hell hole

However, this is not the first time a celebrity has been slut-shamed by our ‘intellectual’ internet trolls. Recently, Turkish actress Esra Bilgiç who plays Halima Sultan on the show uncovered the dull, yet diverting, side of Pakistani fans as they went on to preach her Islam on her clothes and poses. The image evoked remarks like “For what reason are some Turkish and Pakistani on-screen characters following Western culture?” and “I loathe you in the wake of seeing this image Halima Sultan.” That’s not all, many even compared her on-screen persona to something that they anticipated from her, all things considered. The “humble and honourable” woman figure of speech was rehashed, suggesting that that is how she should lead her life. There were likewise long passages about how she ought to imitate the character she played on screen and that she would look much better in twelfth-century clothing over the “western” garments she wears in her own life. Hurling accusations and slut-shaming celebrities have become somewhat of a pastime hobby for our citizens.

A few years from now, actress Mahira Khan was also accused and criticised similarly. We all live in a country where almost 20 per cent of the population is a smoker but one cigarette seemed to be the heaviest – the one that Mahira Khan smoked. The actress was violated when pictures of her sharing a cigarette with Indian actor Ranbir Kapoor spread like wildfire all across the internet. Social media influencers took this opportunity and further fueled the already ignited lighters in a move to get more clicks. Flocks of internet trolls had broken Twitter with hashtags relating to Mahira Khan’s incident and people started to call her un-Islamic at what she wore and on why she was smoking. When will people understand that they don’t own a celebrities personal life? This also highlights another grave and obscene trend of workplace harassment. Pakistani workplaces are becoming a den for those beasts that prey on women, making earning livelihood a living hell hole. This is a global issue but in a third world country like Pakistan, where women rights are poorly protected, harassment cases are rising exponentially within our country. In a nutshell, the patriarchal system and the discriminatory attitude of male-dominated society towards professional women may be the reason behind workplace harassment.

These are the issues that spark up the rape culture and the toxic mindset of our male society. The ease to which harassment can take place in our society is an indicator of how the rape culture can mushroom out throughout the country. Special initiatives have been taken at the state level such as the introduction of the Harassment at Workplace Act 2010 and establishing the Office of Women Ombudsperson. Yet, it’s a mammoth task for our society to evolve such a congenial environment where females won’t feel shy to raise their voice for their rights.

Sermonising on what we have seen from the plethora of twisted men harassing women and slut-shaming them, who declare a woman to be characterless just so that she can’t spread her wings properly in a society. What a low opinion Pakistani man must have of Pakistani women if this is what’s going through their minds. No wonder they feel they must control every action, police every movement, otherwise, Pakistani women would break free and run around uncontrollably, destroying what’s left of society. A survey carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked Pakistan as the third most dangerous country in the world for women, after Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ignorance is not always a bliss and sometimes it’s important to take a stand. Here the government is also to be blamed for taking no such actions in helping to make a safer country for our women. No major laws have come forth in recent years that could help these women to stand on their own feet. However, our government is too busy with more ‘important’ issues perhaps.

The writer is an award-winning journalist and social media influencer based in Islamabad. He tweets @ShahabSpeaks