Every country/culture has r*pe culture to some capacity. Somalia is not immune to this. Ours is uncontrolled, ripe and normalised. You and other posters on here think rape culture is severe SA or r*pe when that is simply the most extreme form of r*pe culture.
View attachment 358217
What it says at the bottom is key
"Tolerance of the behaviors at the bottom supports or excuses those higher up"
If sexual violence, harassment or abuse happens, it doesn't mean society condones or accepts or enables it. Perpetrators of crime and unwanted behaviour do not usuaully carry out these acts with societies stamp of approval in most countries.
Also at a closer inspection of the bottom list of the pyramid, most of that stuff doesn't even normally occur in Somalia. Women do not get groped, men do not flash or expose themselves, there is no catcalling or even rape jokes. Stalking doesn't happen either.
I find it deeply ironic how some of the most common behaviors listed are not widespread reported problem in Somali society.
We come from a country where phrases like “naag waa weel waax lagu shuubto” and “wixii xunba xawaa leh” are normalised, and there are many more examples like this. Let’s continue looking at the normalisation part of this picture. Somali women at home often wear the niqab because they do not want to be subjected to unwanted attention, as men are often uncontrollable with catcalling. The issue of non-consensual photos and videos is also highly relevant. In Somalia, there is a widespread telegram epidemic, where Somali men share inappropriate videos and pictures of Somali women. This is why reer SL refer to southern Somalia as 'reer telegram' as an insult. There used to be multiple pages with over 100k followers that uploaded unsolicited videos on tiktok of Somali women at Liido Beach, especially when their dresses would stick to them after swimming.
There is also a normalisation of misogyny and inappropriate jokes among young men back home, and it is often brushed off. Watch these videos, and you'll see how prevalent they are. Why do they receive over 100k likes, and why do young children feel comfortable repeating such behaviour aloud? Why does the crowd laugh, as if it is acceptable? If Somali society shuns girls and women by using terms like “isku xishood” and “ceeb”, why are such terms never applied to young men or older men in the same way?
Now look at the assault section of this picture, which represents the most extreme form, as everything leads to this point. Everyone in Somalia and the world knows that sexual assault or r*pe is wrong. Somalia is also a Muslim-majority country, so why is it that when Muslim women face sexual assault or rape, the perpetrators are rarely prosecuted? Why is it that every day, Somali women are on tiktok live crying and advocating for justice? Just a few months ago, an autistic child in Somaliland was assaulted by her grandfather. When her mother went to the police, the officer told her to speak to her clan representative, who outright refused to take the case further, arguing, “How can a grandfather do this to his granddaughter?” The granddaughter is now pregnant. All they need to do is conduct a DNA test and deliver justice, but she has been denied it to this day. Like Anfac and Luul, her case sparked widespread outrage, yet the Somali government and police continue to fail women by denying them justice. Even this video alone speaks volumes. Was this man arrested for threatening mass rape? In what kind of world or society is it normalised to say such things and face no repercussions?
At the end of the day, you and the other posters can act like rape culture isn't a thing in Somalia. All it does is lead to the normalisation of the extreme, which is rape and sexual assault. This country has lacked accountability for women since the day the USC mass raped women, and we all moved on like nothing happened.
I don't really take social media posts, or old clips of militant war criminals as proof or evidence of Somali culture or societal attitudes.
There are social media street interviews where they ask Somalis on the street about random stuff and they just spout nonsensical answers to sound edgy or funny so they can entertain the audience. Also since social media often amplifies outliers and does not necessarily reflect broader societal attitudes.
What i do look at is academic research into Somali societal attitudes.
A qoute from a study written by a prominent female Somali sociologist that have studied this "Cawo Mohamed Abdi"
Convergence of Civil War and the Religious Right: Reimagining Somali Women
Rape in Somali culture is very stigmatizing. Prior to the war it was rare and severely condemned, making group or clan relations very tense when it occurred. Women's virginity was highly valued, and violating their honor was considered scandalous.
And also another piece of evidence are reports on how government officials, civil service, courts, police etc handle it. You can see there is serious legal consequences and you can also read from the court proceedings they bring in witnesses to do thorough investigation, Somalis from the communities come in to testify and speak out against the perpetrator, sometimes even family members give them out. They even roll out DNA evidence as well, that's the lengths they go to.
So yes they are persecuted.
I can show you other cases where some type of crime or harm has been done to a woman or child and Somalis took to the street in protest inside Somalia demanded justice and accountability from law enforcement. It resulted in the perpetrators being executed by a firing squad
It happens all the time. It shows you that Somalis take it very seriously and don't find it acceptable.
Case was first in Somalia to obtain conviction using DNA
www.voanews.com
Authorities say the two men had confessed to raping the 11-year-old child
www.voanews.com
A man sentenced to death for raping his three-year-old stepdaughter has been executed by firing squad in southern Somalia’s Jubaland state. BBC reports that the man, Hussein Adan Ali, had been chewing khat leaves, a mild stimulant, when he sexually assaulted the child.
www.hiiraan.com
The Regional District Court of Awdal Somaliland has sentenced a 22-year-old man to death by a firing squad on July 1st for the rape and murder of an underage girl in Lughaya in the east of the country. Mr. Abdi Saeed Mussa, a 22-year-old man from Lughaya was convicted of the heinous crime of...
somalilandchronicle.com
In the anecdotal cases that you mentioned where they are not persecuted, lack of justice in some cases stems from institutional failure rather than cultural acceptance.
Whereas the social media stuff ((Telegram scandals, TikTok issues), non-consensual photos, videos, and online harassment are valid concerns. Can't say i am familiar with it to speak on it, but this is probably linked to a global trend connected with cyber bullying, cyber crime etc that these platforms enable. Somalis are big time victims of Telegram scams even from what i've seen, usually by foreign perpertrators.
The fact that Somali families and communities demand justice for crimes against women suggests that rape is not tolerated
Frankly the way yall speak its as if yall don't understand the ways in which Somali culture operates or how our society works and are importing ideas and beliefs from other cultures, whilst weaponizing problems that stem from political instability that is externally manufactured.
There is no isku xishood or ceeb if someone harms you. Xishood (modesty) and ceeb (shame) are cultural concepts meant to uphold public decency, not to suppress women from seeking justice against harm. It applies to everyone. If you are being harmed or wronged you are not to be blamed for that or shamed.
Somali culture operates under clan/community based protection & social acountability – In Somalia, people operate within strong clan/community networks** where violence or harrassing behavior "brings shame to the entire family/clan. As well as Islam or religious social norms that inform against it.
Somali culture strongly protects women , harm against women is taken seriously by families and communities. Islamic laws provide additional protections for women’s financial rights, safety, and dignity
It is also evidenced by the fact that Somalia has less sex trafficking than other countries around the world, heck you can just look at our neighbors Ethiopia or Kenya, where thousands of women are trafficked every year.
A lot of cultures that condone sexual violence or abuse or cover it up have massive sexual trafficking crime problems and prostitution. Somali women are protected from that type of sexual exploitation.
Take what
@Galool said about Ethiopia, it has a massive human trafficking crisis, with women being sold into slavery in the Middle East. The local guides in Ethiopia operate as pimps that sell the bodies of local women to tourists.
There is also the evidence in how Somali women are heavily involved in business - owning shops, running market stalls, and leading financial enterprises
Whereas Sexual harassment and gender-based violence are major barriers for Ethiopian women trying to enter business or work.
Many African women are forced into exploitative jobs, Somali women, by contrast, often work in their own businesses.
Somali women are safer from exploitation, trafficking, and workplace abuse that's what it shows.
.
