Hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian women have been sharing stories of sexual harassment, violence and rape on social media, after a post by a Ukrainian journalist went viral earlier this week.
The trend began with a post on Facebook by Ukrainian journalist Nastya Melnychenko. She recounted a number of incidents of sexual harassment and violence, starting when she was six years old and continuing into adulthood. [...]
It is a new departure for Russia and Ukraine, where domestic violence and sexual abuse are often taboo topics, or treated as part of life. Taken together, the stories weave a disturbing tapestry of violence, intimidation and abuse, from uncomfortable situations and verbal insults to physical assaults and rape. [...]
However, not everyone agreed with the message. The popular news agency Life News ran an interview with a “sex expert” from the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, who said many of the stories could be made up and should not be shared online as they could arouse potential rapists. Blogger Anton Nossik wrote a post in which he said he felt sorry for victims of violence, but believed that “in our emancipated times, women have no fewer ways of forcing men into relations than vice versa” and accused women of inventing many stories.
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