Vulgar verbal abuse awaits girls who speak up on rape culture, warns Ain

 

Maria Chin Abdullah says youths like Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam were still fighting issues that she had championed 30 years ago.

PETALING JAYA: Student Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam, who rose to prominence after her TikTok video detailing a teacher making rude rape jokes in class went viral, warns that the dangers one has to face for speaking up against sexual harassment in schools is real.

She said together with her peers, they had received threats of violence and vitriol from many people from all walks of life, with some using religion to justify the abuses hurled against them.

Ain said those speaking out against the rape culture must be aware of the risks involved.

“Some want me to encourage them to speak out, but right now society doesn’t let that happen. They will attack them, and these are children.

“It’s unfair for adults to want us to speak out when it’s dangerous for us,” she said at a talk on rape culture, hosted by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Young Lawyers Committee.

“People are praying I will get raped, they talk about my body like it’s nothing … and I am a child.

“If I tell any other child to do the same as me, they will go through the same thing.”

Reflecting on the culture she and others are seeking to fight against, she lashed out at those who had used religion as a justification for making abusive comments about her online.

“It’s wrong when people mix it with religion. They say ‘oh you should cover up, otherwise you are in the wrong’.

“In my case, people said because I didn’t wear a hijab, people used it as a way to justify what rapists do.

“Some said ‘if Ain dresses like that, I would want to rape her, too’. These were comments from teachers, and I am a minor.

“We are allowing such ‘paedophile teachers’ in our schools. When society lets this slide, others think such behaviour is okay.”

On dismantling the rape culture, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said it was a shame that youths like Ain were still fighting the same issues that she herself had protested against nearly 30 years ago.

Change must come from the top, she said, be it from implementing the long-delayed sexual harassment bill or improving gender sensitivity training in institutions and workplaces.

She said that unless structural changes like these were implemented, the kind of cultural shift needed to dispel rape culture would be difficult to achieve, as individual accountability has its limits.

Yu Ren Chung, executive director of the Women’s Aid Organisation, encouraged men to call out instances in their own lives when jokes or comments about rape or sexual assault were made, even if it was difficult, and take responsibility for their past mistakes.

“When things happen in your circle or workplace, you just need to act; that’s what’s important.

“It’s not always easy. Maybe you don’t want to be ‘uncool’, or it’s a colleague or boss and you don’t want to get in trouble.

“I went to an all-boys school. So I’ve definitely said things that are wrong, but you need to reflect on all these and be honest with yourself.

“It doesn’t make you a bad person overall, it could be just a single thing you did that wasn’t right.” - FMT