For the first time, women in Kuwait are challenging conservative traditions and a culture of "shame" to confront harassment, in a social media campaign launched after a well-known blogger posted a video on the issue.

And through the Instagram account "I will not be silent", dozens of testimonies about being stalked, harassed or assaulted have begun.

The well-known Kuwaiti influencer Assia Al-Faraj, who has 2.5 million followers on social media, considered in a video clip published last week that there is a "problem" in Kuwait.

https://app.slack.com/client/TBJM8C8P2/D0111DQCC3W/thread/CVA83GCP2-1612861980.170600

"Every time I go out, someone harasses me or another woman in the street," Assia said in the video, which was widely spread and affected.

The video posted by Asia launched a movement in the country to combat harassment, similar to the "# MeToo" movement, which spread widely in the United States in 2017.

https://www.instagram.com/celebrities_kuw/channel/?utm_source=ig_embed

# I will not be silent to


harassment and nervousness, it is not dependent on a male or female or a person or an animal or even an adult or a child, harassment destroys our society the society in which I and you and the future of our children and people live in it. We live here with them pic.twitter.com/S0mM0IeS42

- Gebb (@ bsea_2a) February 6, 2021

Supporting women in Kuwait

Radio stations and television channels began hosting activists, lawyers, and academics to talk about the issue of harassment, while the US embassy in Kuwait expressed its support for the women.

"A campaign deserves support. We can all do more to prevent harassment against women, whether in the United States or in Kuwait," the US embassy wrote on its Twitter page.

Campaign deserves support.

We can all do more to prevent harassment against women, whether in the United States or in Kuwait.

# I will not be silent

A campaign worth supporting.

We can all do more to prevent harassment against women, whether in the US or in Kuwait.

#Lan_asket pic.twitter.com/snbmhjXj3b

- US Embassy Kuwait (@ USEmbassyQ8) February 3, 2021

Activists indicated that foreign women in Kuwait, who constitute a large proportion of the population, are among the groups vulnerable to harassment and violence.

Campaign deserves support.

We can all do more to prevent harassment against women, whether in the United States or in Kuwait.

# I will not be silent

Silence is not an option

After watching Asya Al-Faraj's video, Kuwaiti Shaima Shamo, 27, who studied medicine and returned to Kuwait at the end of last year, launched the "I will not be silent" platform on Instagram to urge women in Kuwait to testify and talk without fear of harassment.

https://www.instagram.com/lan.asket/

Shaima confirmed that she had received stories about harassment of Indian, Pakistani, Filipino, Russian and Spanish women working in Kuwait, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

"As soon as I opened this account, I was showered with messages (...) of women and girls telling stories of verbal, physical and sexual harassment," Shaima told the agency.

"Silence is no longer an option. We must speak, unite and defend ourselves, because what is happening is unacceptable," she added.

According to Asya, foreign women in Kuwait "are subjected to harassment at a level that Kuwaiti women will never understand."

While the campaign received significant support on social media, it has also been criticized by conservative voices who argue that women should dress modestly to avoid harassment.

For her part, researcher at Human Rights Watch, Rothna Begum, confirmed that women are trying to talk about something in a country like other countries in the Middle East. Harassment is not a big problem and many fear that their families will be dishonored, forcing them to remain silent.

"The publication of these testimonies is very important to give Kuwaitis an idea of ​​the harassment and the terrible harm it causes," she told the French agency.

Women in #Kuwait speak out against harassment, @AFP reports #Lan_Asket # ExposureHarassmentKuwait_request #No_Scott @ascia https://t.co/P6nLHjhpeG

- Dana Moukhallati (@Dana_Mk) February 9, 2021

Blemish culture

Shaima points out that the culture of "shame" is what prevents many women from speaking.

And she continues, "the social restrictions have turned going to the police station into a defect, and talking about harassment into another defect," and into "the blame that society places on the victim of harassment."

According to Shaima also, "As soon as a woman talks about experiencing any kind of harassment in her home, questions from family members follow her: What were you wearing, who were you with, and at what time did that happen?"

Social restrictions transformed going to the police station into one defect and talking about harassment into another defect (Al-Jazeera)

A law against harassment

There is an anti-harassment law in Kuwait, but the stigma associated with talking about gender-based violence is still present.

Therefore, women in Kuwait seek to remove the stigma associated with talking about harassment in their society, which is among the most open in the conservative Gulf region.

Kuwaiti Lulu Al-Asalawi, an activist on social media, says that she was frequently "bullied" because of her clothes and the pictures she publishes on the Internet.

Lulu explains that girls do not talk because of social restrictions and fear of stigma, but that she and others will not stop until "this cancer is eliminated from society."