Dealing with violence is excruciating, be it physical or emotional. You carry around battle scars on your body when someone physically abuses you but emotional abuse poisons you slowly. Ugly words hurled at you not only shatter your confidence but day after day, they break your spirit. There might not be any wounds on your body but it pains you no less.
The victims of verbal abuse might just be your deeply authoritative boss that you take jibes at behind her back. It can be that girl at school who consistently underperforms. While men also suffer from this and their battles cannot be undermined, the number of women that are being terrorized this way in relationships is far more drastic. An initiative dedicated to addressing women related issues, Women Through Film collaborated with UN Women to produce a video primarily shedding light on the effects of domestic verbal abuse.
Through the course of the video, we’re introduced to three different women from different social strata and walks of life experiencing abuse.
There’s a depiction of an illiterate poor woman
A complete housewife.
And an educated, ambitious working woman.
All strung together by their shared stories of spousal abuse.
Words that string the narrative together are the glaring, “Tum kehtay ho, lafz koi khanjar thorri hein. Na sulagtay angaaray hein”.
Women Through Film aims to explore the power of film in order to empower and facilitate young Pakistani girls. Born out of the need to celebrate success stories while also bringing women-related issues to the forefront, the initiative also deemed itself instrumental in equipping young filmmakers with the necessary know-how to use the art of storytelling and citizen journalism in a way that ultimately creates social change.
Speaking to MangoBaaz about the video, Founder and Creative Director Madeeha Raza shares, “My idea behind this video was to highlight verbal abuse as a serious abuse in our society. Generally, physical abuse is always given more importance, which it deserves of course, but verbal or emotional abuse is widely ignored, just because it cannot be seen. Broken bones can heal but a broken mind cannot. Hence, through this video, I wanted to bring people’s attention to this grave issue that affects the emotional well-being of women, not only in this country or region but all over the world.”