Traditions of Insult

By Asfiya Aziz

Word count: 655

The incident of an FC personnel slapping a needlessly aggressive female reporter has again bitterly divided opinions. While everyone agrees that the reporter was acting unprofessionally and disgracefully on her own, several voices have actually approved of the guards’ action of physically assaulting her.  

Some people’s opinions on this incident have exposed their embedded acceptance of violence against women as a means of restraining and controlling their behavior. It also highlights the lack of proper support and training given to women who are forced to go in the field and learn things on the job which should have been a part of their orientation exercise when they enter the field of journalism, specially reporting.

Ultimately, it exposes a colossal lack of respect from all parties towards each other. Respect comes from recognizing each other as equal human beings. The lady in question appears to be indignant at not being allowed inside the government premises by the guard--notably a low ranking official, and she seems to be high on her own perception of unlimited media privilege and entitlement, among other things. The guard’s privilege and entitlement comes not just from his uniform but from the gift of male superiority he was born with.

While some may insist on keeping this issue away from gender politics, it is impossible to examine the minds of the two involved parties and discard gender as a factor. A woman in Pakistan steps out of her sanctuary with more than a ticking clock on her mind. She is carrying the load of her physical vulnerability, decades of negative endorsements from the society, concerns for her own safety and security, awareness of the consequences of a mistake or accident, a keen eye on the environment around her, trying not to attract the wrong kind of attention, and constantly watching out for her personal space to be respected, all of which have the potential to quickly escalate. This thought process is in addition to the universal concern of safety against street crimes that men and women share when they exit their houses.

When I see that video clip, I see a woman revolting, reacting against the shackles her gender has placed on her. Overreacting is a proper description in this case but you need to give her the benefit of being on unfamiliar territory. In trying to break free from the fetters in her own mind, she does not know how much force she needs to apply and when to stop pushing at all. As she struggles, the world around her also struggles to handle someone who is breaking away from the prescribed traditions half the population of the world has almost quietly internalized.

The woman has accepted these traditions in order to keep safe from the men who cannot control themselves from harming her. The woman restrains herself not out of some inborn necessity, but because she wishes to be safe from men who think disrespectfully. Consequently, out on the streets, women do not act and react from a position of strength. They are constantly fighting the specter of disrespect that shadows their existence. The street is the biggest playground of the disrespectful.

Coming to the point of mutual respect, I see this incident as one of lack of respect on everyone’s part. Respect for fellow human beings, respect for women, respect for a government personnel, respect for a low ranking official, respect for another human being’s personal space, respect for the institution of media, all are glaringly absent. For whatever reasons, this lack of respect is all around us and the current incident is likely to help it grow even more.

All of us need to drop the distracting images of the microphone, the uniform, the pull, the push, and the slap for a second, and examine whether we need to resurrect the traditions of mutual respect or let the society descend further into the chaos it already is in.

------ENDS-------

The writer is a journalist with a special interest in Bioethics.