You would think that if someone as eloquent as Laila Hzaineh went through your video and refuted you point by point, you might listen.
But Wassem Shehadeh, a Palestinian youtuber from Nazareth, today showed that he’s got about as much class as you’d expect from someone who compared women to “free meat”.
The story started when Shehadeh posted a video on 31 March saying “girls today do a lot of things wrong” and criticizing women who wear short skirts and laugh loudly in the street. “Don’t be cheap: everyone wants to eat free meat” were the words of “advice” he had to offer.
Hzaineh - a Palestinian-Jordanian who’s become something of a sensation for her videos criticizing the Middle East’s patriarchy - destroyed his ideas in a response posted Friday.
“We’re not cheapening ourselves, because our value isn’t measured by what we wear, except by people like you who dismiss our substance,” she said. You should watch the whole thing below:
Linking his words to sexual harassment and dominant patriarchal attitudes which base women’s worth on their appearance - and pointing out Shehadeh’s own contradictory thinking - Hzaineh’s video would have provoked reflection and an apology from anyone with an ounce of self-awareness.
Shehadeh seems to lack that ounce, however, as he today posted a video refusing to back down from his statement:
“I don’t really care what other people think,” he says. “It’s not that I have to change society, but I have my own point of view.”
“I’m convinced of my opinion, and I’m convinced I have to express it.”
Despite protesting that he knows right from wrong, Shehadeh has joined a long line of men who thought it was their place to dictate what benefits women instead of listening to them.
In the words of Hzaineh: “Go read a book instead of getting yourself busy with what girls are wearing. Elevate yourself, because the bottom is overcrowded.”
JB
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