STORIES AND ACTIVATIONS THAT CAUGHT OUR ATTENTION
#Shameonwho: ABAAD Social Experiment Exposes Lebanon’s Victim Shaming Culture
On November 5, Lebanese non-profit civil association ABAAD launched its latest awareness campaign on sexual violence through a video posted to its Facebook page, depicting a social experiment where actress Manal Issa plays the role of a woman who had just been raped and is seeking the help of strangers on the street across different urban areas in Lebanon, while their individual reactions are being filmed in the process. “What happens to a rape victim when she seeks help on the streets?” #Minelfelten #Shameonwho,” the caption read. The campaign, anticipated through mass text messages referencing the Arabic version of the tagline #Shameonwho that were sent out to Lebanese people a day before the video’s release, essentially aims to “reshape society's skewed perception of victim shaming and call for severe penalties against the rapist in Lebanon” according to ABAAD’S website. And as people posted screenshots of these messages that left them intrigued, the video came to ease their doubts one the one hand and expose the sad reality of victim shaming within the Lebanese society on the other hand, as many of the featured people in the video went on to blame the victim instead of solely condemning the rapist. Viewed over 1.7 million times in the short span of a week, the video fueled a heated conversation about rape in Lebanon on social media, that spilled on to Instagram where influencers shared a series of screenshots redirecting people to the video and Twitter where the debate evolved into a massive clash of opinions and perspectives. The online campaign was followed up offline with a series of billboards rolled out across the country and a sit-in during the Beirut Marathon where volunteers held signs with the words “Today, I will not run, I will stand and face my rapist” marked of them.
Lebanese Community Left in Shock over Young 3arous Stunt
In another awareness campaign advocating for women rights/empowerment, The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering [RDFL] set up fake Facebook and Instagram pages under the name Young 3arous [Lebanese for bride] that promised interested male customers a range of young brides to choose from, in an effort to raise awareness on underage marriage within the Lebanese society. The pages eventually sparked outrage among local social media users who were left wondering on the truth behind this concept and whether it is a promotional stunt as opposed to the real company it appears to be. Some eventually went a step further as to dial the hotline listed on the pages in question to shame the nature of such an action. Following this period of growing confusion, the RDFL uploaded a video to its Facebook page on October 30, revealing everything about the campaign and mobilizing people to go to the corresponding website www.young3arous.com and sign the petition to raise the legal age of marriage in Lebanon to 18. The official hashtag adopted for the campaign became #Notbefore18 and was subsequently used in all online communications pertaining to the campaign, highlighting that the younger the bride is, the more dangerous the repercussions of underage marriage upon her physical and mental health are.
Storm Hits Lebanon, Leaving a Flood of Unfortunate Incidents Behind
The first storm of the season hit Lebanon on October 25, carrying heavy rains and massive hailstones that left considerable property damage behind across many different areas. It all started with a brief yet abundant shower that rapidly took its toll on the country’s poorly maintained infrastructure, flooding parts of the Jal El Dib highway and resulting in an even bigger traffic congestion in the perpetually jammed area. Damage extended to buildings, cars and furniture and people’s phone cameras did not spare a social media worthy scene as walnut-sized hailstones proved too harsh on many glass structures, prompting their total or partial destruction. Among the most shared videos on social media was a scene from Raouche where a scaffold is seen completely knocked down, damaging a number of parked cars in the process, and a video from ABC Verdun in which water is seen dripping all the way through the ceiling as shoppers took out their umbrellas to avoid getting wet. From fallen electric poles to collapsed trees and from chattered windows to damaged vehicles, it is safe to say that there was plenty of footage/images for the online community to feed on as the sun gradually paved its way among the grey clouds following the short-lived storm.