By Mirza Jahanzeb Beg
In conflict zones, there’s always a “Bois Locker Room” which shares the striking features of Misogynistic Patriarchy and Male chauvinism with their counterparts in other cities, towns and villages except for the fact that “bois” in such groups don’t belong to any ordinary schools and their threats aren’t limited to Instagram. Moreover, their victims are not called victims, they’re called the “collaterally damaged” population.
Unlike the other victims of Misogyny, women who come under the ambit of collaterally damaged population aren’t fortune enough to have a popular mass support or Media coverage in their favour. On the contrary, women traumatized by sexual violence, including rape, also have to endure the suffering and shame of being cast out of their communities, they’ve to face the domestic and social repercussions and all other consequences which include living with that trauma for the rest of their lives, for the sins of ‘boys’ whom they’ve nothing to do with, for something which is neither in their control and nor their fault.
Sexual assaults aimed at women in conflict zones is reinforced by discriminatory political and public support under the pretext of Nationalism, legal impunity and exclusionary social norms that undermine the victim’s opportunities for seeking Legal Justice, psycho-social support, Education, Independence and a Dignified Life. Also, most of the popular social or women rights organizations don’t often speak for them, neither do the famous Celebrities tweet in their Support for obvious ‘not good for business’ reasons, nor does the online community feel it necessary to speak for them, nor do the popular feminist or women activists speak on their behalf, to represent the ‘collaterally damaged women’ as they tend to do in other cases ‘as women’.
They’re often subjected to Propaganda and Conspiracy theories which intend to malign their character, cast doubts over the nature of their victimhood or the circumstances of the incidents and make people raise their eyebrows, to the point that they’re no longer sensitive to their Pleas for Honour and Justice. Sometimes, they’re even made the Villains, to the extent that people either refuse to accept the truth in their tales of misery or defend and justify the plundering of their honour in the comment sections of various news reports on social media, in some general compartments of trains, in some private WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram groups, through fake social media accounts and paid tweets, in closed room discussions of the offices of various socio-political, pseudo-religious, Business or educational institutions, In the school, college and university busses, in the canteens and cafeterias and so on.
It’s a classic old saying that if the perpetrator is not to be found, then the perpetrator is the ruler. The Question that I ask myself is that if a gruesome, pathetically terrible and criminal mind set can systematically penetrate into the social structure of not just a town or a City but entire nation, who’s behind that? When the all seeing eye doesn’t see the suffering of a Woman, when the all hearing ears turn deaf to her cries for mercy, when all noticing instincts fail to take note of her woes, then is that failure mistaken or deliberate?
Well, you should ask that Question to yourself, and if the answer that you get in the heart of your hearts ‘lowers the morale’ of the ‘bois locker room’, then Questioning that Morale becomes the fundamental duty of anyone who believes in Honour, Dignity and Justice.
The author is a Psychology Major with expertise in UN mechanism,International Law, Diplomacy, Peace-making and Mental health and can be contacted on psychologistspeaks@gmail.com
