RELATABLE: Don't silence victims who want to share their stories, says expert
Content Forum Executive Director Mediha Mahmood during Sinar Daily’s Relatable programme dubbed “Women & Girls: Abuse in the Digital Sphere”. Photo by Rafeq Redzuan
Content Forum Executive Director Mediha Mahmood stressed that the victims should never be silenced when they share their experience in the digital sphere.
“The victims should be able to speak about their experience without the backlash of victim blaming,” she said as a panellist on Sinar Daily’s Relatable programme with the topic “Women & Girls: Abuse in the Digital Sphere”.
An example can be seen when a local teenage actress who recently revealed she was exposed to inappropriate content by her father in her childhood, received backlash for choosing to speak up.
However, Mediha said, it is important to remain careful around the matter concerning the children and teenagers as there are laws against exploiting the group for content and such.
Adding more, she said the victims are often being publicly shamed and asked to shut off from cyberspace as a way for them to ‘heal’ themselves from the damages done online.
“They said ‘just switch off the computer, you’ll be fine’ but that's not fair because you are protecting the internet space for the bully and you are asking the victim to be silenced and step away,” she added.
She further said that it is unfair to ask the victim to go offline as it can be deemed as silencing the victims and opening more doors of opportunities for the cyberbully to do what they do.
“That is not the way we should do things, I think in such a situation, assuming the context is within the realm of what's legal, we should continue to allow people to speak up,” she opined.
She praised #MakeSchoolASaferPlace advocate Ain Suhaiza Saiful Nizam’s effort in speaking up about her situation, Mediha said the matter should not stop Ain or the victims from doing things that they want to do.
“Those comments are going to be on the internet forever but the good of what she's doing is also there,” she said.
“So, no, we should not silence girls or women when they’re telling the stories. All stories need to be heard,” Mediha remarked.
