(This piece was originally published at the Dunya Blogs on October 19,2018)
Me Too movement is a movement against sexual assault and
harassment. It went viral in the October of 2017 as a hash tag but soon it
turned into a platform for the victims of sexual harassment to name and shame
their assaulters. Many big names of the American entertainment industry found
themselves in the middle of this movement. For the last few weeks this movement
is knocking at the door of our neighboring India and many famous politicians,
writers, journalists and media person have been accused of sexual harassment.
This movement can turn out to be a watershed moment in the struggle of
achieving women empowerment and curbing violence against them.
My primary reason for supporting this movement is very
different from the rest. I know many in west and here at home will not accept
it but these Me Too stories have vindicated Islam and the limits it imposes on
men and women. The sexual liberation has turned out to be just another weapon
used by the powerful to exploit the weaker gender and here by weaker gender I
do not mean women alone in some scenarios (whose possibility and probability is
less) men can also be the weaker gender.
I do not want to get into the validity of these claims but I believe
that this is what all those men and women deserve who crossed the moral, social
and religious bounds; bounds that are deemed as regressive but in actuality
they are the guards that protect both the sexes and the bounds upon which our
whole social system stands.
The common misconception here is that Islam limits a woman
to her home and confines her to homemaking; the notion of “guli surri laash”
gets its roots from here. First, the notion is wrong and secondly, raising the
next generation- the future is not some easy task. It deserves a lot of hard work
and conviction. Thus in the name of empowerment and emancipation we have made
women more vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation. By offering her the
so-called freedom we have made her a slave and a commodity.
I am not a sexist and I seriously believe in women
empowerment but here in our part of the world women empowerment is reduced to
mere symbols; these symbols talk of shunning duppata and barring one’s midriff.
Still the concerned and the champions of the cause of women empowerment have
failed to indigenize feminism, they have failed to bring the social change
instead they have provoked and antagonized the related corners by opting for
above mentioned gimmicks. Their actions closed many windows instead of opening
new ones. The need here is to identify such social practices that act as
impediments in achieving the goal of women empowerment and then remove them.
Here many preach to change the whole social system instead of correcting the
irritants that cause the problems. Resultantly, we have failed to achieve the
desired change and it still hangs in limbo.
However, here arises a pertinent question that whether this
Me Too movement will be able to play any part in liberating women and making
this world a safer and better place for them. At the moment the answer can only
be assumed and the optimist in me wishes the answer to be yes.
Me Too campaign’s main job should be looking at ways through
which awareness can be created among the masses about the importance of
treating women well and as equals, more importantly how to treat a woman that
is a working woman and at ways through which the work place can be made safe
for them but I fear that this campaign may end up only sensationalizing sexual
harassment instead of sensitizing the masses about it. The main reason of my
apprehension is due to the big names that are attached with this movement and all
those that are being named under the umbrella of this movement. The names might
hijack this movement for their self-glory and for garnering sympathy for
themselves instead of the victims. It is very important that nobody owns this
movement. Nobody should be the face of this movement. It is very important that the campaign stays
on the right path and purpose. Otherwise all the promise that this campaign
makes will be lost and above all the golden opportunity will be lost to bring
in all those who used their power to exploit and harm the weak.
