Should Morocco Pass a Comprehensive Sexual Harassment Law?
Sexual harassment has been a controversial issue in Morocco for a very long time and it still is. Different people have different opinions about the issue; some blame women for being too loose and others blame men for being unable to control and behave themselves. Apart from the fact that the number of victims are increasing tremendously each year, there are a lot of procedures that must take place by the Moroccan government in order to protect these women and children. Although, there are some other sides of the problem to help the legal procedure, which is, the mentality of the majority of the Moroccan families, who witness an irrational fear of dishonor and shame that prevent them to talk about it in public or even within the family. There are many consequences to this tragic incident and each one of them is very crucial to help convince each Moroccan citizen to support the idea of passing a law against sexual harassment.
First of all, sexual abuse can leave life time damages on a victim that can change her entire life. The health consequences of a sexual abuse on a woman are very numerous and are divided into two types. The physical and the psychological one. The most dangerous and unwanted ones are the transmission of genital infection (STDs) and unwanted pregnancy. On the other hand, the psychological effects are anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, loss of self-esteem, and eating and behavior disorder.
“Sexual assault victims are more likely to attempt or to commit suicide. According to the World Health Organization, studies indicate that 33% of women with a history of sexual abuse and 15% of women with a history of physical abuse showed signs of a p...
... middle of paper ...
...
Work Cited
AFP. "Morocco Tables Sexual Harassment Penalties." Enca. N.p., 8 Nov. 2013. Web.
30 Apr.2014.
"Health Consequences of Sexual Assault." Stop Violence Against Women. N.p., 1 Feb. 2006.
Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Hélie, Anissa, and Homa Hoodfar. Sexuality In Muslim Contexts : Restrictions And Resistance.
London:Zed Books, 2012. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. Gender And Equality In Muslim Family Law : Justice And Ethics In The
Islamic Legal Process. London: I.B. Tauris, 2013. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web.
30 Apr. 2014.
"Sexual Harassment Rampant at Work Place in Morocco." Al Bawaba. AL Bawaba, 9 Sept. 2000.
Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Sourgo, Youssef. "Morocco: New Draft Law against Sexual Harassment Draws Praise from
Media." Morocco World News RSS. ©Morocco World News, 5 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
According to the authors of “Enhancing Care and Advocacy for Sexual Assault Survivors on Canadian Campuses”, “Sexual assault has immediate and long-term health consequences for victims including suicide, HIV infection, depression, and social isolation,” (Quinlan, Clarke, and Miller). Another common side effect these victims face is post-traumatic stress disorder. Someone experiencing PTSD may have random outburst of anger, have trouble concentrating on day to day tasks, or may even have flashbacks of their attack. These consequences make it hard for victims to get back into the normal routine of everyday life (“Effects of Sexual Assault”). In a case at Amherst College a young women named Angie Epifano faced many of these consequences after she was raped by an acquaintance in one of the college’s dormitories. While immediately choosing to ignore what had happened to her Epifano soon became an emotional wreck. Before the attack Epifano had believed herself to be an extremely strong and independent individual. In an article done on Epifano’s story she stated “Everything I had believed myself to be was gone in 30 minutes,” (Epifano). Sexual assault takes away a piece of someone. With their hopes and dreams clouded by the tragedy they have endured, victims face a lifetime of
After the first part of the Hughes chapter on Middle Eastern Muslim women, the emphasis shifts, from Quranic doctrine regarding women to how Muslim law and scholarship have interpreted the Quran’s direct admonitions to women. However, this shift is unfortunately subtle. The authors fail to make a clear distinction between the Quran, a sacred text believed to be the verbatim word of God; and Muslim law, which was formulated by (male) Muslim jurists who consulted the Quran and whose consensus was later declared infallible (Ahmed 58). Such a distinction is necessary because the Quran itself is vastly different from a legal document; Ahmed observes in “Early Islam and the Position of Women” that “Quranic precepts consist mainly of broad, general propositions chiefly of an ethical nature, rather than specific legalistic formulations” (59). Indeed, the Qura...
Yahyaoui Krivenko, Ekaterina. Women, Islam And International Law : Within The Context Of The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Western, David. “Islamic ‘Purse Strings’: the Key to Amelioration of Women’s legal Rights in the Middle East” Air Force law and Review Vol. 61. 0094-8381(2008): p79-147.
According to RAINN, (2009) approximately 10 per cent of all victims of sexual assault and abuse are adult and juvenile males. In terms of the nature of assault, real figures include a compendium of reported incidents ranging from unwanted sexual touching to forced penetration. To qualify this statement, it must be understood that the percentage does not reflect a vast number of crimes that go unreported due to issues that will be discussed in the present paper.
Overall, Islam and Gender is a valuable addition to the field of ethnography by examining the everyday struggles, experience, and involvement of women within the Islamic law. Hosseini targets a Western audience and hopes to leave them with a better understanding of the Islamic judiciary system and Iranian feminism. She successfully provides her readers with an unprejudiced account of the shari’ah and family law, and even includes the ideologies of those opposing her personal beliefs. Hosseini specifically requests Muslim women to take a stand develop their own local, Islamic feminist movement and openly advocates new discourse within Islamic jurisprudence.
According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, an estimated 777,200 children were determined to be victims of abuse or neglect by a protective service agency in the United States in 2008, and 9.1% of these children were determined to have been sexually abused (Draucker, 2011). Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a prevalent problem in the United States that is associated with many long term psychological, behavioral, social and physical effects on men and women (Draucker, 2011). These effects can make a person’s life a living hell. They turn someone into a person that they may not have been if the tragic event didn’t happen to them.
Through the assessment of data, examiners reached a general conclusion regarding the permanent somatic and emotional effects of CSA. According to Irish et al. (2009), it was proved that victims of sexual assault undergo extreme depression, eating disorders, anxiety, and terror outbreaks. Likewise, the investigation indicated that these persons exhibited a conversion of their psychological trauma into somatic signs since they developed drastic health issues such as body aching, obesity, gastric complications, and heart and lung illnesses; as a result, victims of child sexual abuse usually get sick more often during middle and old age than other individuals.
In this paper, gender is targeted most in sexual abuse, and why most children are unaware of sexual abuse coming. Also, being discussed is the different types of sexual abuse children can endure and why their abusers might choose them. Children who experience any sexual act of abuse needs to be involved in a sufficient therapy to confront and overcome their traumatic event and effects of sexual abuse. Children should never experience sexual abuse feeling powerless and victimized. Finally, this paper will discuss an effective counseling model that can be utilized for children that are sexually abused.
Women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence. With college campus domestic violence, there is more harm done mentally than physically. The broken bones, busted lips, and scratches can be healed but the women’s psyche may not. Domestic violence and other abuse is the most prevalent cause of depression and other mental health difficulties in women. Domestic violence causes women to blame themselves. A young woman that has been abused has a high chance of having low self esteem problems, higher suicide rates, and severe depression. Domestic violence chews away at a woman with self respect. It slowly but surely takes the confidence as it happens more often. The longer a woman is abused, the more she is taken away from reality.
Sexual assault is a traumatic event that can cause extreme psychological effects on the victim. These effects can be short-term, and they can manifest themselves into long-term effects, depending on the individual and how the sexual assault occurred. Victims of sexual assault can be either male or female, with both sexes having fairly similar psychological effects. In addition to these psychological effects, some individuals develop Rape Trauma Syndrome or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can be more easily classified as short-term versus long-term responses. Every individual is different and may differ in their reactions to this event; there is no normal or common way to react (Kaminker, 1998, pg. 23).
Most of these things it is possible to see through the analysis of the situation that exists in practice and analysis of several court cases. In France, for years women with Hijab encounter problems, both in education and in ...
...tober 2004. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1599003.stm .> Pelham, Nick. "Morocco continues liberal moves." 22 October 1999. BBC News Homepage. October 2004. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/482053.stm .>
More importantly, “60 percent of children who are sexually abused do not disclose and most are acquaintances but as many as 47 percent are family or extended family” (The Scope of, 2016). The prevalence of child sexual abuse is difficult to determine because it is often not reported; experts agree that the incidence is far greater than what is reported to authorities (Child Sexual Abuse, 2012). Startling statistics represent the depth of the issue. Globally, prevalence rates show that a range of 7-36% of women and 3-29% of men experience sexual abuse in childhood (The Scope of, 2016). “The U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau report child maltreatment 2010 found that 9.2% of victimized children were sexually assaulted” (Child Sexual Abuse,
Harassment and abuse is a very prevalent issue in many countries all around the world. The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is among the highest in the world. In the years 2015-2016, there were 51,895 sexual offences reported. While men are also subjected to sexual violence and 3.5% of men have been forced to have sex with other men, the majority of sexual violence is against women. Rape is very dangerous and very serious, especially in places like Africa because of the prevalence of