Domestic violence is something which has been part of our society for long but it is still not addressed enough. It’s not only physical violence. Domestic violence exists in different forms from mental torture to sexual abuse. The generation before us was too tied up in society and the constraints of it never allowed them to be very vocal. Yet, today’s generation has the freedom to go beyond these restrictions and raise their concerns. If you also think similarly, then burst the bubble around you and look again.
This generation is no different. Their suffering is no different. It breaks my heart when I see people of our age being victims of domestic abuse. Not just in marriages, but also in relationships. The idea of domination and being the dominant one is not alien to anyone and neither is the idea of hiding or covering up after every act of violence.
When the whole world is trying to rise up and talk about spreading awareness about domestic violence, one video has shaken the internet world. It was a video which was broadcasted on a Moroccan State TV channel called 2M and created ripples around the world. The video was about a makeup tutorial for women in which a makeup artist demonstrated how to conceal bruises. Yes, you read it right. A trending video of makeup tutorial to cover domestic violence!
Now the question is; How ethical are these kinds of videos when the statistics from the World Health Organisation show that about one out of three women have experienced either physical or sexual violence from their intimate partner? Even though the channel took the video off its website and also apologised for it saying that it was an “editorial error of judgement,” the damage has been done and the video has gone viral on social media and people on Twitter have expressed their anger against it.
At the end of the video, the host said that she hope victims of domestic abuse could conceal their abuse so that they could “go to work and do what you have to do.”
It is unethical. But another important question which needs to be answered is whether an apology is enough? According to me, it’s not. You can’t turn something so serious into something so casual. The whole fight is to tell everyone the severity of the topic. Normalising the violence will break the spine of the whole movement.
It will be better if we take it as a sign of caution and stand up together against it now before it’s too late. Let’s not take it casually. We should make others understand the seriousness of violence and its cover up.
_