Pakistan Minister Imran khan associated the rise in cases of sexual violence with women’s dressing and this has become a topic of discussion not only on social media but every gathering is sipping tea and sharing their opinions on the victim-blaming from the very Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The outrage by Pakistani women is quite understandable since they are the ones being blamed for what should be the responsibility of the institutions of the state.
Prime Minister Khan told HBO that if women wear few clothes, it will have an impact on men, unless “they are robots”.
The comments have not gone down well with Pakistani men either, who have also expressed their anger on social media since they do not prefer to put themselves in the equation of robots.
Here is what they said:
Some called it damning indictment
Actor Osman Khalid Butt said that if the prime minister’s remarks were not “a damning indictment of our society I don’t know what is”, adding that “of course men aren’t robots. Yes, there is desire, temptation, attraction. Rape isn’t caused by this. Rape is about power. Dominance, a complete lack of empathy, hostility. It diminishes a woman – or a man, or a child – to a sexual object. It is dehumanizing.”
'Is it [a woman wearing very few clothes] really going to provoke acts of sexual violence?'
— Osman Khalid Butt (@aClockworkObi) June 21, 2021
'It depends which society you live in!'
If that isn't a damning indictment of our society I don't know what is.
Some asked to stop humanizing rapists
Activist Jibran Nasir asked the prime minister to stop humanizing rapists, abusers, and harassers.
“You may not realise it but when you repeatedly stress upon the clothes of a woman as a cause for temptation leading to sexual violence you do exactly that,” he wrote on Twitter.
Dear PM @ImranKhanPTI stop humanising the rapists, abusers and harassers and stop objectifying the victims. You may not realise it but when you repeatedly stress upon the clothes of a woman as a cause for temptation leading to sexual violence you do exactly that.
— M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 (@MJibranNasir) June 21, 2021
Some are proud to be a robot
Editor Talat Aslam wrote on Twitter that he was proud to be a robot in response to the prime minister.
Proud to be a robot
— Talat Aslam (@titojourno) June 21, 2021
Some know the difference between truth and lies
Activist Khurram Qureshi said on twitter that he was not a robot and he knew the difference between “Truth and Lies, Right and Wrong”
I am NOT a robot. I am a Man, who knows the difference between:
— Khurram Qureshi (@qureshik74) June 22, 2021
Truth and Lies
Right and Wrong
Consent and Interdiction
Empathy and Judgement
Dissent and Treason
Patriotism and Nationalism
Being Religious and Being Extremist
Elected and Selected
Some wants accountability
Journalist Zarrar Khuhro wrote on social media that “once you see the actual cases, the actual dynamics and atrocities (children, babies, corpses, heated rods being used as surrogate phalluses) you understand you were wrong.”
Look here's the thing: we all, or most of us, grew up believing wholeheartedly that rape is a 'lust' crime, a 'crime of passion' involving loss of control over the man's impulses. Certainly this is what i was socialised into believing too. But as you grow (as you should) you
— Zarrar Khuhro (@ZarrarKhuhro) June 21, 2021
