Several Saudi Women Share Why They Didn’t Report Their Sexual Assault By Their Own Family Members And It Shows The Ugliness Of A Patriarchal Society
A deadly virus hits us and the world comes to a standstill. Everything is left aside to first deal with COVID-19. It’s been declared an emergency, a crisis and a war. The world is keeping a count of number of people affected and dying every day. But each year so many women are sexually assaulted, raped and killed but who cares, right? Why are nations not keeping a count of the women killed by men who are nothing less than a disgusting, filthy virus? Why is women’s safety not a matter of immediate attention and action? In fact, hypothetically speaking, if coronavirus only affected women these measures wouldn’t have been taken. Instead they would blame women, call us impure and use it as another excuse to remain indoors.
While everyone is preoccupied by stories of coronavirus, a Twitter movement has Saudi women talking about how they were raped and why they didn’t report it. Using a hashtag in their local language which translates to ‘Why I didn’t report it’, several women come forward to reveal the injustices of a patriarchal society.
In a wave of reformation, Saudi Arabia has criminalised domestic violence and sexual assault. They lifted the ban of women driving and also allowed women to get passports without the permission of their husbands or fathers. All these changes made on the legal front seems of no use to women facing sexual harassment, a lot of which comes from someone they know. So many women who took to twitter to reveal why they didn’t report their abuser said that it was their uncle or brother or father. Mostly, it was someone in the family and someone they knew. Also none of them had family support and some even paid a price for reporting it by getting arrested.
ALSO READ: A 9-Year-Old Girl In Unnao Was Raped, Had Her Intestines Ruptured And Was Killed On The Day Of Holi. We’ve Lost Our Humanity
What really works against women even when they report their abusers is that most times, it’s actually someone in their family. And these men are considered their guardians and a woman can apparently be jailed for disobeying her guardians. Can you believe this shit?
#ليش_ما_بلغت because I still to this day believe that it was my fault, even though I firmly believe that it’s no woman’s fault. I believe that I brought it on to myself.
— Nour abdulaziz (@Nourabdulaziz3) April 2, 2020
#ليش_ما_بلغت I was a child who barely knew anything and did not realize the severity of the situation, however, my instincts were telling me something was not right. the issue lies in the fact that it is my pedophile of an uncle
— noura (@cnrrz) April 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/bravehoho/status/1245710363863154689
https://twitter.com/Rony_moe69/status/1245804683614183424
https://twitter.com/mia_jk9/status/1245970747836817408
It is really heartbreaking to read these stories of sexual assault. These women are suffering because the society is male-dominated, the men can do anything to them without any fear of consequences. They are are helpless and continue to live with the same men who rape them and reduce them to shreds. We’ve failed women all around the globe and this toxic masculinity is nothing short of an ongoing pandemic.
