Kuwait: For the first time in ages, challenging the conservative traditions and culture of “Shame” to speak out in open against harassment in the gulf region, The Kuwait women came out in open to speak up for the first time, in a social media campaign #Metoo.
#Meetoo is a social movement for speaking up against sexual violence and sexual abuse.
The movement gained momentum in the region after well-known Kuwaiti fashion blogger Ascia Al-Faraj, who has 2.5 million followers on social media, posted a video last week where she said that there is a “problem” in the country.
“Every time I go out, someone harasses me or another woman in the street, the problem here is that men are not ashamed,” she said.
Faraj’s video launched a movement in the country to combat harassment, similar to the #MeToo movement, which spread widely in the United States in 2017.
She encouraged other women to join the movement so that they could benefit collectively if the laws in Kuwait were changed.
After watching her video, a 27-year-old Kuwaiti Shayma Shamo, who studied medicine and returned to Kuwait at the end of last year, have set up a social media page on Instagram called “Lan Asket” which means ‘I will never be silent’ on Instagram to urge women in Kuwait to testify and talk without fear of harassment.
“As soon as I opened this account, I was inundated with messages of women and girls telling stories of verbal, physical, and sexual harassment,” Shamo told France Press.
“Silence is no longer an option. We must speak, unite and defend ourselves because what is happening is unacceptable,” she added.
The #MeToo movement, with variations of related local or international names, is a social movement against sexual abuse and sexual harassment towards women.
The #MeToo movement in India is a manifestation of the international MeToo movement that began in late 2018 (and continues to the present day) in areas of Indian society including the government, the media, and the Bollywood film industry.