Imagine a girl is shopping at a mall, all of a sudden a young man appears on the screen in a fancy car with bodyguards all around, he looks at the girl and tries to approach her, but the girl is not interested, and the young man’s ego is hurt. The man bullies her and forces her to marry him, and it turns out that the girl, after a forced marriage, fell in love with this inhumane entity.  This is not merely my evil imagination, but this is an anecdote of the content we are consuming daily.

Consent is not romantic in a media dominated by chauvinist culture.

Beauty and the Beast, Twilight, Kabir Singh, Bashar Momin, and many more are examples of how the media is romanticizing violence against women behind the iron curtain of love.  Entertainment industries worldwide are flooded with this genre. George Gerbner is famous. Cultivation theory suggests that prolonged exposure to television shows gradually shapes people’s perceptions.

Media is a channel initially developed to inform the audience, but this has become a rat race nowadays where every channel and content creator is busy increasing TRPs and views to generate maximum economic share.  Famous media outlets and renowned artists all around the world are becoming tools of this slow poisoning of society. A violent, seductive form of storyline is followed by big media houses that propagate romantic violence.

According to Bell Hooks, romantic violence is “a psychological, physical or emotional abuse masked by the illusion of love and affection”. The recent tragic incident of seventeen-year-old Sana Yousaf is a clear depiction of how the media has normalized consent denial. A twenty-two years’ twenty-two-year-old boy, the convicted murderer, is completely unaware of the word consent because consent is not romantic in a media dominated by chauvinist culture. This is problematic as this is creating a mindset that is not ready to accept rejection.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) global estimate of 2020 suggests that around 47,000 women and girls were killed by their intimate partners or close family associates, which is equated to around one death every eleven minutes. Among these, Asia was spotted with the highest number of 18,600 victims. Furthermore, according to the press release of the Aurat Foundation in 2011, around 8,539 women became victims of violence. According to this data, there is a 6.74% increase in these cases from 2010. The release reported top crime activities with around 2,089 cases of abduction and kidnapping, 1,575 murders, and 705 honor killings.

Romantic violence is psychological, physical or emotional abuse masked by the illusion of love and affection.

According to the Global Gap Index 2018 Pakistan is ranked as the sixth most dangerous country in the world and the second worst in gender equality with 148^th rank. Parliamentary question E-001583/2020 revealed that the number of sexual crimes and domestic violence are increasing rapidly in Pakistan. The NGO White Ribbon Pakistan reported 47,034 cases of sexual violence against women. Pakistan ratified the convention of elimination of discrimination of all Forms of discrimination against women still this rapid increase in violence statistics is alarming.

Pakistan needs to work on creating a safe and equality-based environment for its citizens. Strict laws and faster prosecution are needed. Art and Artists are influential entities of society; they have the power of revolution, as they did in the Renaissance era they should play their part as well. Along with that media should be monitored and should act as a responsible agent of society by creating awareness through media campaigns rather than chasing TRPs through unhealthy content. Society and executives should be trained to handle these sensitive cases and should avoid any sort of victim blaming.

The most important step needed today is empowering both men and women and guiding them to respect each other’s space and decisions. Religious and community leaders should debunk the harmful norms of society. Local reporting channels should be available at workplaces to protect women against any kind of harassment. Along with many other regulations in the curriculum, students’ gender sensitivity should also be integrated. Youth programs and seminars can also help create awareness and empowerment.

None of the divine religions or constitutions allows or justifies gender-based violence.

Empowering, protecting, and respecting both genders of society is the only way of progress for a society and nation. None of the divine religions or constitutions allows or justifies gender-based violence. According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Pakistan census-2023, around 48.51% of the country’s population is women. In the absence of economic participation of this large chunk of the individual economy of Pakistan can never flourish to its true essence.

The Study of Michel Ferarry and Stephane Deo which uses data from 159 large French firms, highlights the importance of gender equality in achieving full economic potential. Active economic and social engagement requires safety, space, and respect for consent. Systematic measures, both on the societal and governmental levels, are needed to achieve an inclusive and sustainable future.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.