Women marched all across Pakistan for freedom from the patriarchy and it lit a fire in the belly of the beast. Women received rape threats, photographs of women holding placards were photoshopped inappropriately, rabid slut-shaming discourse ensued and celebrities came forward with dire warnings of cultural implosion and Armageddon. This is the true face of the patriarchy and the Aurat March unveiled it, just as it did last year and likely how it will continue to do every year. It is this unveiling of the monster within that shows how necessary the Aurat March is at the end of the day and how truly dastardly people behave behind closed doors.

FHM Pakistan, in a bid to cash in on the sensationalised posters, released a series of pictures of men holding protest placards (in what seems to be their gardens) stating everything from ‘Pehle khana paka tu lo, phir meh gharam bhi kar longa’ (First cook dinner and then I’ll heat it) to ‘Ladies First – Gents First kab ayega?’ (Ladies First – When will it be Gents First?). This is a direct and antagonist attack on posters that sought to empower women to seek individual autonomy – on every level. The same day as the superfluous and wanton Aurat March, a man in Lahore flew into a rage and shot his wife multiple times over an argument. Earlier this year another man killed his wife for not heating his dinner enough. Women face marital rape, acid attacks, financial abuse and abandonment in Pakistan and though issues such as online sexual harassment and unpaid domestic labour may seem trivial, they are on the same spectrum and must be addressed.

Am I being fair when I call those who denounce the Aurat March monsters? Are they really? A society’s ‘monsters’ exist as a manifestation of that society’s deepest fears, problems and desires. They are therefore incredibly fascinating, incredibly powerful and unfortunately, incredibly resilient to sense. And so are these social-media justice warriors monsters then? These men and women who have come forward to snatch the baton from the hands of protestors?

In his article for PsychologyToday.com, criminologist Scott Bonn wrote “my candid conversations with these individuals have taught me that their violence as adults is largely a response to fear and resentments that were not resolved in childhood. In fact, the most violent adults I have ever met are those who have tremendous underlying fears of rejection, inadequacy, failure and abandonment”. The violent manner in which people deal with female autonomy in their own lives suggests that fear is very much a part of the average person’s life. To say, also, that women’s rights is a problem is an understatement given how Pakistan has continued to wade in at the bottom of the Global Gender Gap Index – coming second to last worldwide two years in a row.

Monsters roam our planet and they look just like you or I.

Those people who identify as women are being represented in this global movement and I see hope in it. A hope for a better and more balanced world where war-orphaned children don’t roam cold streets strewn with rubble, a world where I can meet a one single woman who can look me in the eye and say that she has never been inappropriately touched or made to feel uncomfortable simply for existing. I will leave you with this quote by Margaret Atwood:

“Heroes need monsters to establish their heroic credentials. You need something scary to overcome”.

And we have something scary, indeed.

By Roshan Jehan