While we are having a class on violence against women in development in a few weeks, we have recently heard the great news; A human rights activist, Nadia Murad, and doctor, Denis Mukwege, who both have been fighting for sexual violence in conflict have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Please find their profiles here; https://www.ft.com/content/0b9921c4-c863-11e8-ba8f-ee390057b8c9. You may find this great event as part of a global phenomenon of socially increasing awareness of sexual violence against women. The fight is not over yet since there are still a number of female (and male) victims of sexual violence in any settings, but I want to enjoy this news as it is a great opportunity to globally drive more awareness about this issue and celebrate actions taken by this two winners and other nameless activists.
More importantly, I also hope this moment was the great news for survivors as well because Murad is one of those rape survivors. She is amazingly brave to speak out and share her story of sexual violence by IS soldiers. While celebrating her courage, however, I think that we should concern ourselves also with a negative potential of uncritically celebrating the action of speaking out by survivors as it may make other survivors feel they "have to" do so as well. As Parpart (2010) points out that it is often very difficult for women to speak out because it may endanger their lives, it is also often difficult for rape survivors to break the silence. They may have traumas, or they may face so-called “second rape.” Murad also points out this difficulty in her interview; https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture-exploration/2018/10/nobel-peace-prize-nadia-murad-interview/. I do not mean to criticize her and other victims who have spoken out. I believe that we should transform structures in which the silence is forced, but I want to suggest here that it is possible that celebrating the action of speaking out may put pressure on survivors to speak out even if it is against their will and make feel sorry when they fail to speak up. It has to be up to them if they speak out or not. They have already experienced a lot of social pressures. The society should not put any additional pressures on them.
But, once survivors choose to speak out as gathering all their courage (even when they do not wish to do so), what others need to do is, I think, to offer a safe space, be silent and listen to their voices with much respect as possible. More importantly, others must believe them and fight with them. Unfortunately, however, there are always people who never try to believe victims’ stories. No respectful attitudes are given to them although the victims take risks. We recently saw this disrespectful ignorance in the US in Brett Kavanaugh’s elevation to an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Although three women witnessed that he sexually assaulted them, there are people who never tried to believe them and even insulted them. While this led to the national “We Believe Survivors” movement, the Senate confirmed him to the position.
How long will it take our society to be open to voices of the victims of violence?
Dear Kei, I can not agree more with your post and your opinion regarding the importance of speaking up against sexual violence. Also your point regarding pressuring women to speak up it related to one of our readings. Parpart ( 2004) discussed the idea of that we sometimes forget our privileges of having the ability to raise our voice and speak up for our rights, and we take this for granted. However, some women are being judged for not speaking for themselves and fighting for their rights. We incidentally forget the power dynamics in those situations and how some women may not have any other solution except for being silent and hide in the shadow, quoting Parpart that "Choosing silence and secrecy, policing one's voice and body are well-established survival strategies. It seems unfair to dismiss these choices as passivity and disempowerment as they are often the best and sometimes the only choice for building internal strength."
ReplyDeleteSometimes it is a privilege to speak up for yourself especially in societies that always blame the victim for her cloth, behavior and even for leaving her house.
So thank you so much for reminding us with that important point.