On March 28th, twitter used @enyoathome tweeted about everyday violence faced by women urging users to send in their personal accounts to be shared anonymously:
Ladies, I'm compiling a thread on everyday violence faced by women.
Dm me your experience and I'll post it without revealing your identity.— Enyo (@EnyoAtHome) March 28, 2017
The tweet attracted many women coming forward recounting stories of harassment and sexual violation.
The stories became more and more grotesque, from being victimized by people these women knew, going as far as rape. The perpetrators? Often family and men they “trusted”
She was 5 when this started. Was it her revealing clothes? No it wasn't.
May men like these burn in eternal hell.
She's a strong woman. ❤❤ pic.twitter.com/SyMGXBSufS— Enyo (@EnyoAtHome) March 28, 2017
The thread was particularly difficult to digest:
The tweet also attracted men sharing their horrific stories, proving that the problem although far bigger in numbers but isn’t faced by women alone.
But one person came forward with a story like no other.
The Twitter user who remains anonymous shared the gut-wrenching tale of falling in love and eventually marrying woman who was abused at his own home by none other than his own flesh and blood: his father.
“I don’t know about it as I wasn’t home much, I was in Lahore, and they were at (my) hometown.”
The person also revealed that his current wife also underwent an abortion owing to the abuse.
When asked what inspired this introspection into violence, @enyoathome tells MangoBaaz:
“Growing up, we’ve all had to face some kind of assault from men, be it catcalling, groping or something severe. I started this because I could see here that a lot of women had gone through these traumatic experience and thought that they were alone or isolated in that. I only wanted to show them that they’re not alone. That we are all in this together. Along this journey I discovered that there are some wonderful men, fighting this good fight alongside us. I promised them that they’ll be anonymous while I get their story of strength and valor out to the world to see that they are bigger than what happened to them, that their body, mind and soul remained untouched, pure and only theirs.”
Speaking about this person in particular:
“This man was special in a way because he acknowledged the injustice faced by women and decided to do something about it. By marrying the woman he loved, he made sure that she knew that she’s more than her body, that she’s precious to him.
I started this because I was fed up of men being misogynist and hurtful but I learned along the way that they are our allies too…
I hope more men and women read it and change their perspective like I did mine.”
Cover Image Source: AP/Petr David Josek