Shumu Haque:
#MeToo After over three decades have passed since my life has been turned upside down with the violence and the sexual abuse, I am now being asked by a loved one of mine, what justice would I like to see. What do I want to happen to him?
I don’t know. The damage that he did to me all those years ago, cannot be reversed. Nor can they give me my life back. I am familiar enough with Bangladeshi justice system to know that it will only create farther trauma for me. I want him to feel the pain and shame that he put me through. I don’t know if there is any justice system in the world that can give me that.
Do you know what I really want?
I want every family to believe a child when he or she discloses something so traumatic to his/her loved ones. I want parents to do their job and protect the children that they bring into this world instead of putting them through farther trauma for years by telling them that its the victims’ fault ( no matter how young they are) that they have provoked and encouraged their abusers.
I want every mother to tell their daughter that their body is not a curse. I want all mothers to teach their daughters not to be ashamed of their body, and to teach their daughters to walk with their head held high and to love themselves.
I want all mothers to teach and encourage their daughters to live life to the fullest instead of burdening them with a thousand restrictions regarding what to wear, how to seat, how to walk hiding her existence from the prying eyes.
I want all mothers to understand that it’s not the victim’s job to hide herself from all those monsters lurking all around. It’s the society’s responsibility to teach the perpetrators that they either learn to live in a civilized manner or they should be punished.
Most importantly I want all mothers to learn to love their daughters just the way they are with all their quirks and authenticity.
But perhaps, it’s too much to ask. Who knows!
Shumu Haque has Studied Print and Broadcast Journalism at Humber College, Toronto. She works for a Canadian Not- For Profit Organization and in her spare time, likes to study and write about issued related to the status and rights of women across the globe