By Randa Darwish
Palestinian women in Gaza have just launched a campaign targeting sexual harassment stories and the taboo culture of women revealing their stories.
On a Twitter account called “MeToo Gaza”, dubbed from the international #MeToo campaign launched in 2017, Palestinian women in Gaza aimed at revealing untold stories of sexual harassment and assault they have been facing during their lives without being able to share it with others.
Under their slogan "Women support other women" written in the account's bio, the campaign has tweeted on Friday its first post encouraging women in Gaza to share their stories without feeling ashamed or guilty for facing harassment.
Women who want to share their stories were asked to send them via private messages so their names won’t be known for the public.
Translation: “This account was created to help Gazan women share their stories of sexual harassment on purpose to let you [dear women] know that you are not stigmatized or guilty and it is not your fault yet it is the harasser who should be ashamed. You can share your stories through private messages, knowing that we will not include your names if you asked us to. Share your story and break your fear barrier.”
Activists behind the account remain unidentified amid fears of being targeted by conservatives in their society who usually tend to blame the victims for being harassed.
On the same day when the campaign kicked off, the account has received massive support among Palestinian women in Gaza and outside the Strip.
Translation: “The worst thing any woman can experience is sexual harassment. It’s psychological effect never fades or forgotten, especially that we can’t share many of the stories even with the closest people to us and it stays with us letting us feel insecure and self-hating. This is a good chance to talk and receive moral and psychological support.”
One Palestinian woman from Gaza went to tell her story when she was sexually harassed for the first time ever by the school bus driver in Gaza. She narrates how she was at her early teenage years with zero education on how to respond to harassment or sexual assault.
Translation: “The first man ever to sexually harass men was the school’s bus driver. I was in early teenage years and had no idea what is harassment or someone abusing your body. He kept harassing me for a year and I had never realized it was harassment not playing. The education and children raising systems have to be changed. Women should be able to express themselves without fearing the consequences.”
In Gaza, where the youth have been standing up for their rights in the context of ever-deteriorating living conditions in the Strip that have been besieged by Israel for more than 10 years now, women had their own revolution on society.
There are no official data on the number of women facing sexual harassment, women in Gaza along with many other countries in the region are struggling with the taboo culture that usually blames the victims for facing sexual harassment, abuse or rape through campaigns like MeToo that eventually will affect the society and change its perception of such stories.
Read More: Gazans Use Social Media to Report Anti-Hamas Protests Amid Media Blackout
