“He brought me water. He sat beside me, as if he wanted to make sure I was okay. He put his hand on my thigh and said, ‘do you want something else?’ and he started moving his hand on my skin.”
Women labour in al-Raqqa, harassment-dipped bread. Rozana *
The girls, however, avoid talking about the harassment they face at the workplace, fearing stigma and the power of the merchants. Rozana*
Meanwhile, some Syrian women, especially those who are now refugees and migrants in Europe, managed to break through the barriers of silence, and they confronted society with their wishes:
Reem al-Haj: “I will not get a hymen reconstruction surgery. I do not want to hide the crime of my rape.”
Yasmin Mari: “Women get away from politics because of the attacks on their bodies and their womanhood.” Rozana*
“The color red on blonde women, wow! Red makes for intensity, yes indeed. Red is really, really intense. Her beauty, her eyes, wow! What a pity that you have to carry this bag. The bag is heavy on you. The bag takes away some of her beauty.”
These comments by al-Qurini belong to societal culture in our harassment-infested region with strong bias against women. This TV channel ran several rounds of women’s gymnastics competitions, with the commentary of the sports commentator Othman al-Qurini. The words he used, the expressions, for commenting on the performance of the athletes, were shocking. Is Bein Sports spreading a culture of harassment and sexism? Enab Baladi *
XwhY is a reader of gender and sexuality related-content that represents the problems and challenges faced by women and LGBTQIA+ communities in Syria and the region.
