Molested at Women’s March and victim-shaming

 

On March 12, I posted a thread on Twitter narrating my sexual assault ordeal where I was molested on the street along Masjid Jamek after participating in the Women’s March event.

I wanted to tell my own story, in my own words on Twitter, but what seems like a harmless tweet of my molestation experience, has been blown out of proportion. And it is all for the very wrong reason because of the photo attached to my tweet.

The conservative Malaysians on Twitter went berserk because, in the photo, amidst the crowd, I was holding a rainbow flag during the Women’s March event. As a result, I received a creeping level of hate from the public who made horrible and dangerous comments and threats.

With over 3.5 million views, the tweet then became public knowledge with the photo being used and over-shared on various other social media platforms.

The public cherry-picked and became fixated only on the so-called “pro-LGBT elements” at the Women’s March event. The news quickly spread and reached the Parliament - with Kuantan MP Wan Razali Wan Nor claiming the event was a pro-LGBT gathering.

Meanwhile, the sexual assault issue that I wanted to raise on Twitter, which was prevalent and normalised in Malaysia, was invalidated and heavily silenced. Consequently, women-related issues raised during the march such as the banning of child marriage, equal political participation, gender pay gap, elimination of sexual violence, period poverty and many others were all largely ignored.

The incident served as a wake-up call for us all. It becomes clear that our nation is in crisis. In 2023, fellow Malaysians are still not ready to engage in any form of civilised and intellectual dialogues and discussions when it comes to matters related to women, gender and sexuality.

The lack of overt awareness, knowledge and understanding of the intersectionality of women, gender and sexuality among the citizens in this nation are highly appalling as many personally chose to be ignorant and refused to be educated on such issues.

To many conservative pundits, they have already been imprisoned by a system where their views and objectiveness are deeply rooted in their religion, tradition and culture. As such, we can never fully address the underlying societal issues related to women, gender and sexuality.

It was truly disheartening to receive vile and hateful comments due to the inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning and Asexual) community in the Women’s March.

This has clearly demonstrated that the nation has not only failed to respect and validate our women’s struggles, but is also upholding gender inequality and discrimination against the oppressed genders and sexual minorities.

Due to its state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia where homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia under Penal Code Section 377A, the society has alarmingly become increasingly hostile.

Significantly, ethnocentrism, sexism and human rights abuses were further perpetuated by mis/disinformation. As such, we continue to see the marginalisation of sexual and gender non-conforming persons, refugees and migrants.

Perhaps some would argue that the inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community is irrelevant to women’s struggles. However, in reality, this is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 which concerns achieving gender equality.

Conservatives lack knowledge

It is true that many would not understand due to the lack of education and knowledge of gender and sexuality studies among its populist conservative and fundamentalist Malay-Muslim citizens.

This is because it already has been outrageously deemed incompatible with the beliefs of many pious and practising Muslims. As such, many would hold on strongly to their beliefs that women’s issues are solely for “women” and would not take the intersectionality approach to include those of marginalised and oppressed genders and sexual minorities.

As one of the 189 countries that ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), Malaysia has obligations towards improving the protection, promotion and fulfilment of women’s human rights.

However, this incident has just highlighted the scant progress on gender equality in Malaysia. Although Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country, the nation should not forget its roots that it is also rich in its diverse multiracial society.

Regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity, they are citizens of our country and they are part of the Malaysian family. Everyone should be treated equally with respect and dignity. And no one should face any form of stigmatisation and they cannot be discriminated against.

What is the pivotal step toward improving gender equality? There is a need for critical discourse on women, gender and sexuality at all societal levels.

And since the populace is not homogeneous, there is a necessity for the approach of interfaith, intercultural and interethnic in the dialogue. We cannot pretend it never existed and merely sweep it away under the rug.

Unless everyone can be mature and civilised with openness and acceptance of diverse opinions, and be able to freely discuss and debate without fear, we will never be able to achieve gender equality.

This is because in order to address the underlying societal issues, especially when it is related to women’s struggles, we (especially men) need to stop talking and start listening. Only then can we truly address the needs of marginalised and oppressed genders and sexual minorities as a step to be a more inclusive society.

Is Malaysia moving forward or backwards with the newly elected Pakatan Harapan-BN coalition government? At this time of writing, political uncertainty remains rife. Only time can tell. - Mkini

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DAVINA KHO is a postgraduate student in gender studies and an independent human rights activist.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.