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| Azra Azari |
Recently, the issue of sexual harassment became a heated topic of discussion in Clubhouse rooms focused on Iranian Azerbaijan. In an interview with Voice of America, feminist activist Ezra Azeri stated that discussing these topics reveals society's "true face" regarding attitudes toward women.
Ezra Azeri believes that "even though these debates are difficult for women, and even if women are blamed, targeted, and have to bear the consequences, opening up these issues will help clarify the matter."
The feminist activist assessed some of the opinions voiced—mainly by men—in the discussion rooms, which were attended by about 200 users, in the context of “rape myths,” a set of biased and false stereotypes and beliefs about victims of sexual violence.
"[One myth] is that the perpetrator is abnormal. That he lacks self-control, has a certain illness, or is insane. Or, for example, that he does not belong to the upper class. As an example, there was a general assumption in the Clubhouse room that the person who made such sexist remarks against a woman does not belong to our community and is an agent of Iran’s intelligence. That is, he doesn’t represent our society and must have come from outside. There was this kind of denial," she explains.
According to Ezra Azeri, "some men, under the guise of defending women, perpetuated stereotypes [against women] once again."
Some male users interpreted the feminist activists’ statements as an attack on all men and opened a separate discussion room called "Harassment Against Men."
"When feminist women protested and told the men on stage to leave the space for women and allow them to share their experiences, a few left the room and opened another one with an aggressive title: ‘Harassment Against Men.’ This reflects an aggressive denial. It’s also one of the features of rape myths—downplaying the issue. They also started blaming the woman, implying that her behavior wasn’t normal either and that it was somehow her fault," said the Sweden-based women’s rights activist.
Ezra Azeri believes that in order to support marginalized and oppressed classes and groups in society, it is necessary to view the issue from their perspective:
"When I lived in Iran, I experienced discrimination as both a Turk and a woman. Later, I lived as an immigrant in Sweden and faced challenges there too. These experiences have taught me that if I want to help an immigrant woman, I must view the situation from her perspective. Similarly, in Iran, just as someone who writes and reads in Persian cannot fully understand the negative impact of not knowing the official language, men cannot understand how unsafe the environment is for us women or how we cannot speak freely on social media."
The feminist activist emphasizes that the national movement's atmosphere is not sufficiently safe for women to share their experiences.
"In these recent Clubhouse discussions, we’ve also seen that our environment is very closed to addressing such issues. There isn’t a safe space where women can feel comfortable sharing their experiences. Even feminist women don’t feel at ease in these spaces," she adds.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Əzra Azəri: Milli hərəkatda mühit qadınların öz təcrübələrini anlatmaq üçün təhlükəsiz deyil