Hear Me Out: #meToo in Our Community

Ever since the allegations against Harvey Weinstein first came to light last year, there has been an international movement, #MeToo to show support against sexual harassment and to highlight just how big of a problem it is. This campaign has stemmed sister movements as well, such as #meTooMilitary, #ChurchToo and #MeTooK12 where these highlights the abuse that happens in the military, the Church and in schools. Another less often talked about hashtag is #MosqueMeToo. Quite often sexual harassment is written off to be a problem that other people have, but it is also a problem in Muslim communities and needs to be addressed.  

I think part of this mentality stems that typically sexual assault is seen as a taboo topic in our South East Asian culture and is rarely talked about. This is problematic as it leaves survivors of sexual assault without the resources they need to heal and move forward as they are often silent about it for fear of being stigmatized. On the rare occasion that it does come up, the people very typically assume that it is usually the woman that is at fault and we are often exposed to toxic victim blaming which makes it even harder to get help for those that need it. 

Mona Eltahawy, a Muslim feminist writer, used the momentum to invite Muslims to share about their stories about abuse with #MosqueMeToo and was flooded with responses. She herself has experienced this first hand when she was groped during Hajj when she was 15. She wasn’t able to talk about it until decades later. 

What our community lacks is awareness of the issue and a means to seek help. How often do parents talk about this over dinner with their kids? Despite it being taboo, things are slowly starting to change. One such organization paving the way to change is HEART a non profit organization which works to raise awareness of sexual health and sexual violence in Muslim communities which in my opinion, is something that we do not see enough of.  Some of the things that they do are hold workshops at mosques, rape crisis centers and college campuses. 

The Prophet (PBUH) said that the best of men are those who are those who are best to their women. It’s time we heed his advice and work together to create a better community for all of us.