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“Prosecute the rapist. Do not blame the victim”.These the words that since the beginning of November accompany the social media campaign initiated by ABAAD, Lebanese no-profit organization, which aims at the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
After last year abolition by the Lebanese government of a norm that was erasing rape accusation if the accused man decided to marry the victim, the members of ABAAD understood that, despite the law change, the general attitude of society toward the victims did not change: still, people believed that women were to be blamed, due to their behaviour or appearances.
As Ghida Anani, Founder and Director of ABAAD, said to Reuters during an interview, she realized that the Lebanese society needed to understand that rape was never justified. To achieve it, a strong action was necessary, and art was the perfect means to reach everybody.
This the origin of the #ShameOnWho campaign: using street art, they realized several murals in the streets of Beirut portraying the faces of rapists as described by the victims and then, shared them on social media with the hashtag #ShameOnWho (in Arabic: مين_الفِلتان# ). Indeed, in a few days the picture of Rana standing in front of the murals depicting the face of the man who abused of her became viral online, being reposted by many newspapers all over the world.
Art from a mean to represent reality, became an instrument to change it.
D.S.
Credits Cover Image: Marwan Tahtan