Hassnae Bouazza - Morocco/The Netherlands Collapse
"It is important for people to know about the harassment faced by women journalists. Women are like the canary in the coal mine. Something is seriously wrong when women are not allowed to do their work safely. It is a sign of an unhealthy, illiberal and unsafe society. And when women are not safe, no one really is."
Listen to Hassnae Bouazza telling her story here:
There are three reasons for people to attack me: I am a woman, I was born in Morocco and I am Muslim. Being attacked makes you very aware of what you are doing because you know the possible consequences and repercussions.
The attacks are highly misogynistic and racist: the fact that I am a woman is used against me as a weapon by belittling, mocking, scolding, using graphic sexual, racial and Islamophobic insults and posting sexual fantasies. The harassment permeates your life. At some point, online hatred found its way into the mainstream media. That was very overwhelming. At first, I found it necessary to debate with people, to defend myself. Until I realised how useless and futile that was. When the attacks were coordinated, I felt unsafe and even became a bit paranoid. A tipping point for me was when a man on Twitter called out for both my rape and that of my mother. She died a few weeks later and that was the moment I realised how utterly pointless it all is. Out of self-protection I no longer engage with people online and I do not read what people write about me.
It is important for people to know about the harassment faced by women journalists. Women are like the canary in the coal mine. Something is seriously wrong when they are not allowed to do their work safely. It is a sign of an unhealthy, illiberal and unsafe society. And when women are not safe, no one really is.
The work of a woman journalist can be extremely lonely. Sometimes it feels like it is not worth the trouble. But taking a deep breath and a few steps back helps to put everything into perspective. Ultimately, it is essential that women journalists carry on because their perspective and work are crucial to understanding the world and fighting its problems.
What keeps me motivated to keep doing my work is my intrinsic desire to tell stories and to fight injustice. It's not just about me, but it’s about society in general, about the importance of equality and safety for all.