Is the government solely responsible for the sexual abuse law in a country where the faces are hardened or loosened when it comes to sexuality, the conversations are never opened or immediately become silly, but satisfaction always falls through the floor? Are we sure?
I know many many things …
You know many many things …
But I have kept silent, you have kept silent, they have kept silent.
Contacts that we are not sure about on the street, on the shared taxi, or the bus,
Sometimes the touches that we are very sure of, that make us feel sick,
‘Fake’ guys after whom we shout at the top of our voice, “why are you running away? Come here if you’re a man!”
The uncles of the neighborhood patting parts of our body saying “I like you kid”,
Grocery store guys who sell chocolate and wafers as well as harassment,
Dear teachers whose eyes deepen as they look,
Fathers who hit on their son’s girlfriend,
Brothers-in-law, uncles, and others who come to bed at night,
Taxi drivers looking immorally in the rearview mirror or accidentally(!) touching while holding the gear,
Brothers who show parts of his body,
Mothers who pretend not to understand when the victims tell them what happened, fathers who say “I should not have heard this”, elders who are ashamed instead of harassers …
Men and women who say “What was she doing there at that time of the night?”, for women who were harassed and raped,
Those who separate ‘a girl to marry’ and ‘a girl to have fun with’,
Other women who can use very bad language to women whom they are angry at for their political views,
Men who think that they are sincerely opposed to harassment and rape, but who, on the other hand, constantly intervene in the life of their sister, girlfriend, or wife, in other words, rape their lives,
People who are madly afraid of harassment and rape, but who are not aware of the fact that they are raping the lives of other people by constant gossiping,
Men and women who humiliate women for the sake of football fanaticism,
And many more …
We know many more …
We haven’t even gotten to rape yet …
We have always pretended not to have heard. Let’s not hear it and not see it, but on the other hand, we wanted them to “never happen”. We never realized that some of our actions were equivalent to harassment and rape.
Meanwhile, we forgot the fact that life hits us like a slap in the face that we have ignored.
Whereas it eventually emerges …
It comes in completely different faces, in completely different situations.
News that more than one man raped little girls,
Things happened to boys in a foundation’s dormitory,
A primary school teacher who not only took boys and girls to his room but even to his village for years and who knows what he did to them,
Many fathers, uncles, brothers, and childhoods who succumb to their unfulfilled desires,
Özgecan and less known girls who were victims like Özgecan,
Of course, also the cases we have never heard of …
The cases eventually emerge and slap our faces.
The cases scream “Look inside yourself, look at what you have ignored, silenced, or done!”.
It came as a law draft most recently.
We got angry, raged, shouted, and talked. Yes, this time we said “No” in a much larger unity. We forgot about the harassment and rape; we cursed the ones who prepared the law draft. Maybe we should thank them for changing our perspective completely and being a common voice.
We created today from yesterday, and we are creating tomorrow from today.
This cover of shame will not be lifted off the new generations until we are cleaned.
Each of us, one by one, confident, including those who say “What’s my connection with harassment and rape?” …
If we are not going to look at ourselves, if we are not going to look at our silence, sexual taboos, discrimination between men and women, our desire to help women and men marry, our disrespect for each other’s private lives, and many other issues, especially if we women who always blame the men and the outside will not learn to love, respect and protect our gender, tomorrow it will come again with a completely different face.
It is waiting for now.
what do you think?