Mohammad Hafeez, former T20 caption of the Pakistani cricket team and who has recently been handed a third suspension from bowling in international cricket, had an extremely awkward experience with his followers on Twitter, recently.
He started a Q&A session on Twitter two days ago and promised to take the maximum questions possible
Let’s start Q/A session , wil try to take maximum Qs ,
— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) November 19, 2017
A Twitter user asked the all-rounder if any girl had ever harassed him
@MHafeez22 Did any of a girl ever harassed U ??
— ? (@mariaahmed20) November 19, 2017
Hesitant at first, Mohammad Hafeez decided to be honest about his experience
Hahahahaha , interesting Q but honestly Yes https://t.co/aoCe83mjRQ
— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) November 19, 2017
However, instead of being understanding and accommodating, his followers resorted to laughing at him and thinking that it was all a joke
The same people who complain that when guys report harassment, no one takes them seriously. Here is how they responded. Some just plainly laughed at him
Hahahaha really
— unzila afzaal (@UnzilaAfzaal) November 20, 2017
Someone made really distasteful jokes and engaged in some victim-blaming
Ungle tuni c ?
— irƒan (@IffiViews) November 19, 2017
either way did u ?
— Syed Wahhab Ahmed (@SyedWahhabAhmed) November 19, 2017
Also read: We Talked To Male Victims Of Harassment And Sexual Abuse. Here’s What They Had To Say
This guy assumed that being harassed means that Hafeez is indulged in an illicit relationship
@mariaahmed20 what bhai bhabhi k ilawa koi ha to name kya ha khushqismat ka
— MUBASHAR ATEEQ BUTT (@MUBASHERBUTT16) November 19, 2017
And this one thought that the story was funny enough to be related to Sharmeen Obaid‘s recent harassment controversy
Sharmeen Obaid ko inform kia tha apny harassement ka ? ?
— Saad Ishtiaq (@saadishtiaq909) November 19, 2017
One even went ahead to claim that whatever happened was right, only because he thought that Hafeez is a burden on the Pakistani team
He went a little further to claim that the trait of being a burden is very typical of Punjabis (racist much?)
Acha huya icc na sahi keya ap ko .ap kub Tak Pakistani team par poj ho jawo gaya.ap punjabun ka yahi masal ha ap dusron par poj raho gaya
— Abdurrahim (@Abdurra20011844) November 19, 2017
Only one person took the claim seriously and deemed it necessary to point out the lack of legislation or dialogue around harassment in the society
But there’s no men harassment act in Pakistan ?
— Muhammad Omair Naeem (@Omair6) November 19, 2017
This is exactly what is wrong with our society. Men or women, when either of them come up with harassment claims – we shame them and make fun of them. For men, we question their manhood and for women, we just assume that they are making the story up for attention.
It must have taken so much courage for Hafeez to talk about such an experience, even if juts as a passing statement, and it is extremely disrespectful to be dismissive of his statement and brush it under the rug as a joke.
More power to Hafeez for opening up about your experience. It is important for important male figures in this country to talk about harassment, so that it starts to be taken seriously and policy makers can actually focus on male harassment as well.