MK blames racy video by 19- year- old pop singer for sustaining rape culture
Anew music video by 19- yearold pop star Adi Bity has caused turmoil in Israel in the past few days, with many critics – including a member of Knesset – claiming that the video objectifies and degrades women.
The video was produced for Bity’s new song “Hamsa Hamsa,” and shows Bity and other female dancers wearing minimal undergarments and eating sushi off the body of an Asian woman laying on a table. Occasionally, a man can be seen peeping through a metal fence.
The video has particularly drawn attention because of a recent wave of cases of rapes and domestic violence against women, which caused a public uproar in Israel, with protests organized across the country and public figures from the entire political spectrum condemning any and all forms of violence against women.
MK Tehila Friedman from Blue and White went so far as to blame Bity for perpetuating the rape culture in Israel, referring to the video as “sickening.”
“Women can contribute to the rape culture as well. Adi Bity proved it,” Friedman, who defines herself as a religious feminist, wrote on Twitter.
“This isn’t culture. It’s not art. It’s a clear and immediate danger to us and to our children,” she added.
However, Friedman has been criticized for her harsh attack, including by MK Idan Roll from Yesh Atid, who until recently was Friedman’s colleague in the Blue and White party.
“Tehila, if you think that seeing a woman dressed in revealing clothes encourages men to rape her, the problem is you, not her,” Roll tweeted.
Others have claimed that the video, provocative as it may be, doesn’t do anything that has not been done countless times before, and that if anyone should be blamed for the video having a negative effect on women it is the video’s producer, Tal Hendelsman, and director, Adam Deutsch.
“Has the coronavirus ended? We thought that there were many issues to deal with during these challenging times,” a statement issued on behalf of Bity read. “People don’t have jobs, they’re struggling to keep afloat, people’s lifelong achievements are collapsing
– and Mrs. Tehila chooses to focus on this. Apparently, the Knesset has plenty of spare time on their hands.”
“It’s sad that in 2020, a member of Knesset in Israel thinks that Israel’s women need to dress as if they were in Iran or in the Taliban. Where’s the freedom of speech, the freedom of art and the freedom of each person to dress as they like?” the statement added.
Bity herself said that she does “agree with MK Friedman on one thing: Women do have a hand in promoting the ‘ rape culture,’ as was done in [ MK Friedman’s] tweet that implies that wearing certain clothes is a legitimate reason for being raped.”
Bity currently serves as an IDF soldier alongside her successful singing career. Following her remarks against MK Friedman, Bity was sentenced to a five- day- suspended prison sentence. “Such remarks violate IDF orders regarding the allowed activity of soldiers on social media,” a source in the IDF told N12.