Not that there was ever doubt about the misogynist nature of
online trolling in Pakistan, but the attacks on Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on her
description of the Facebook request as ‘harassment,’ have marked a new high in
online hate on women.
Some on social media posted photographs of her with other
men - apparently suggesting these images made her a hypocrite for complaining
about alleged harassment. Facebook pages were created encouraging people to send
Obaid-Chinoy friend requests. A Facebook page posted a video called ‘Sharmeen
triggered - how to trigger (harass) Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’, showing visuals of
searching for her profile on Facebook and then adding her as a friend. On
Twitter one user vowed to keep attacking Obaid and her sister until the
suspended doctor is allowed to go back to work and declared that he was going
to send friend requests to as many women as he wanted to. ‘Sharmeen is a tout
and a dirty fly. She is only trying to seek fame through these tweets,’ chauvinistic
comment said.
Some suggested she exemplified the phrase ‘wrong women in
the wrong family’ and called her an elitist. She, however, subsequently
clarified she was referring to the fact that ‘women in my family are strong’
and had not meant to ‘suggest a sense of privilege or power.’
Unsurprisingly, Facebook and YouTube got flooded with videos,
particularly of Pakistani men, condescendingly explaining what exactly
constitutes harassment to Obaid and through her, to Pakistani women. Others
accused her of harassing the doctor by tweeting about the incident.
Reading the comments and tweets online, one could feel the
exasperation with which Pakistani men were trying to explain how this friend
request could possibly be a consequence of an ‘informal conversation’, a ‘misunderstanding’
or something initiated by the woman; how the man was not given a chance to even
breathe and explain himself. I wonder how many men hearing the story got scared
that their own immoral behaviour could be punishable. That their ‘innocent’
comments and actions towards women at work, in the streets, in public
transport, in bazaars, etc could indeed be harassment. And in realising that,
rushed to their phones and laptops to defend their ‘right’ to do all this
without any consequences?
One of the widely circulated comment of a journalist on his
Facebook page said that comparing a social media request to harassment was ‘ridiculous.’
He added ‘What’s next, asking for a pen is harassment… Looking at someone for
three seconds will be harassment?’ In his post, he also said that the claim ‘is
actually taking away from real victims of harassment.’
Sharmeen has been accused of being a ‘traitor’ to Pakistan
in the past as well, in relation to her work that exposes violent and
misogynistic cultural traditions prevalent in certain parts of Pakistani
society. Her tweet storm renewed those criticisms and she was repeatedly
accused of having harmed the country's international image. Her Oscar-winning
short documentaries tackle the topics of acid attacks and honour killings of
women.
One popular video with tens of thousands of views has a
gentleman schooling Obaid on how not to abuse her influence as a celebrity
while, of course, belittling her professional achievements: ‘making 2 to 4
documentaries is not a big deal at all … and it is the doctor who is being
harassed.’
In a subsequent statement, Obaid-Chinoy revealed that the
doctor in question had conducted a ‘very private examination’ of her sister
before going online and ‘leaving comments on photographs & trying to add
her as a Facebook friend.’ She clarified she regularly receives ‘unsolicited
friendship requests from strangers’ but that she considered this episode a ‘serious
breach of patient-doctor privilege.’
The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council referred the BBC to
their ethical guidelines, which don't specifically mention social media but do
state that a ‘professional position must never be used to pursue a relationship
of an emotional or sexual nature with a patient, the patient's spouse, or a
near relative of a patient.’
Bushra
1850 hours
Friday 3 November 2017
