Lebanese Feminists and Effective Awareness Campaigns

Yesterday, I wrote a post that argued that catcalling shouldn’t be considered sexual harassment because in my mind it didn’t seem equally serious. From the avalanche of responses I got from ladies, I realized how wrong I was.

But we still have a problem. I look at who’s sharing that video on Facebook and it’s mostly women. Even those liking, making approving comments and LOLing all over the place are women. It was like an echo chamber of women patting each other on the back while many of the men (like me and those who sent me secret approving messages) didn’t understand what the big deal was.

It’s obvious from the copy of the campaign that the ladies are trying to reach men with the message. But come on, do you honestly think that a man would be bothered by a bunch of faceless ladies making funny catcalls? It’s not how it works with us. How can you blame us if we don’t get the message that this is a very serious matter?

But then I came to a realization: There are matters in Life that only a woman will genuinely understand and where men are truly a lost cause. You can create all the awareness campaigns in the world, but men will never understand on a visceral level the humiliation of a catcall. This is why you ladies need more women in parliament and government to make laws. It’s the only way you’re going to get sexual harassment laws, official rape awareness and overall fairness in the Lebanese legal system.

I think that getting more women elected should become the number one priority for all awareness campaigns by Lebanese feminists.