Meesha Shafi has been making waves ever since she accused Ali Zafar of sexual harassment. After she came forward with the allegations, people were quick to dismiss her and her claims. Calls were made for her to bring forward evidence to back her claims that Ali Zafar sexually harassed her. This type of behaviour wasn’t unique to Meesha Shafi and her allegations, rather this is the reaction that is usually seen and now, expected when a woman comes forward with claims of harassment.
Meesha addressed this culture yesterday when she tweeted out to the people at Go Pro
Hi brilliant folks at @gopro
For the betterment of all women everywhere, getting harassed with impunity, could you please develop a product they can strap to their bodies at all times to provide evidence, and call it #GropePro 🙏🏼 Thanks.
— MEESHA SHAFI (@itsmeeshashafi) July 19, 2018
(Just in case any of you don’t know what a Go Pro is, it’s a small handheld camera recorder that is capable of shooting really high-quality video)
Meesha calls out for some help from an international mover and shaker, Elon Musk!
@elonmusk help a sister out? 🙏🏼#WeNeedGropePro
— MEESHA SHAFI (@itsmeeshashafi) July 19, 2018
Meesha has had to face a lot of people asking her for ‘evidence’, and well in the case of harassment evidence is hard to come by. This is probably a reaction on her part, coming out of the frustration of having to deal with trolls on a daily basis.
Of course, the trolls didn’t rest today
Hi brilliant folks at @gopro For the betterment of all men everywhere, getting accused of harrassment with impunity, could you please develop a product that can expose their lies so that men are protected, and call it #Truthpro
— Nabeel (@nabeel_kiani) July 19, 2018
People were just not original with their comebacks at all
And please also invent some device which alert women and girls when they are not wearing sufficient clothes… May be thsi can help them and save them from harrasment.
— Rabia sabir (@rabiasabir97) July 19, 2018
Wow aap ne ye math kaisi ki?
Yeah I am pretty sure the world will turn into paradise for men after the 0.00001% of men are saved from lies of 0.00000000001% of women.
— Avoidant Hooman (@AvoidantH) July 19, 2018
Clearly, the practice of blaming what people wear is still pretty much there
I’m not saying provocative clothing or behaviour deserves harassment, but it certainly does invite it.
— K-Hanif (@KJHanif) July 19, 2018
‘Cover yourself’: AMAZE
Dont intentionally provoke ppl. Cover yourself.
— Asif Anwar (@asifanwarpk) July 20, 2018
Some people felt compelled to correct Meesha
Nick Woodman founded GoPro not @elonmusk, not sure how Elon will be able to help?
— Ahsan Khan (@Asi_Khan90) July 19, 2018
Warnings were sent to the people at Go Pro
Folks at gopro be alert..you nva know meesha charge you guys with harassment too.😂🤣
— Fahad Habib (@fadii1234) July 19, 2018
New laws were passed by the twitterati
There should be a law against false harassment accusations. Playing the victim without evidence witnesses is unacceptable. Conflict over contracts cannot be allowed to tarnish reputations.
— Syed Najam Uddin (@syednajamuddin) July 19, 2018
There were (thankfully) some voices that stood with Meesha
Listen, why would a woman falsely accuse someone of sexual harassment in a society like Pakistans? The woman is almost always blamed so why would someone do that to themselves? It takes tons of courage to speak up. What kind of benefit has she gotten from this 'accusation'?
— 👑His Majesty Zhang Yixing👑 (@likabuttterfly) July 20, 2018
People were taking on trolls and breaking down their arguments
agar harassment k proofs hotay tou kia hee baat thi… lekin ye aap jaise kamzarf log hee hain jinki wajah se humaray muashray mein aurtein pisti ayi hain aur raheingi…
baqi Allah tou sab dekh raha hai…
isliye Allah na karay k aap ki behn/biwi/beti k sath aisa kuch ho!
— Proud Pakistani (@hbk_lifeonthego) July 19, 2018
So, how do you feel about Meesha’s tweet and the response she got?