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Still Living in "A Man's World"

It is TWENTY TWENTY and here I am, feeling so much hurt, upset and anger from the inequitable differences still apparent between men and women.


After following all of the recent case regarding the 19 year old British woman who has been charged and given a prison sentence in Cyprus, I have no hope anything will ever change for women, but more specifically, for female rape victims.


I felt the urge to make this post as the story seriously breaks my heart and I feel that as a female I must make as many people as possible aware of how horrific the situation is. I already have done through word of mouth, but doing so has simply just made it clear as day that the media has seriously twisted the reality of the case, particularly in the eyes of men - backing that she did lie, without evaluating any evidence for themselves. Quite frankly it has evoked so much emotion in me which I didn't expect, or even know was there.


The victim was forced into changing her statement, where she claimed she was gang-raped by 12 Israeli men whilst working the season in Ayia Napa; Cyprus' number 1 party destination for all teens and young adults. After entering a romantic relationship with Israeli footballer, Shimon Yusufov (also 19), one night in their room she recalls his friends entering, without her permission, and proceeding to assault her whilst recording it on their phones.


After fleeing to the medical centre and making her statement to the police, she was then kept in interrogation, without a lawyer, for eight hours straight. They needed, demanded that she changed her statement. They wanted her to look like a liar. All too conveniently, at the time of the ordeal, both Cyprus snd Israel were supposed to be making a deal alongside Greece, which will ultimately alter the power balance in the eastern Mediterranean: "On 3 January [2020], Israel moved into the ranks of a potential energy superpower, when prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement in Athens with the prime ministers of Greece and Cyprus to build an undersea natural gas pipeline from Israel to Europe. A 1,900-kilometer offshore and onshore pipeline will take gas from Israeli territorial waters to the western Greek mainland via Cyprus and Crete and then on towards Europe. This is the biggest joint Israeli-EU economic project as part of the EU’s desperate search for energy sources to replace coal, nuclear and oil" - Denis MacShane for The Independent. All too convenient in making Cyprus look good and problem-free if you ask me.


The thought of the horror she must of endured knocks me sick to my stomach. I recall reading from an interview with her mother that she had told her family she was "terrified for my life" and claimed she believed if she hadn't retracted her statement, she could've been killed. Simply terrifying.


I clearly remember my initial reaction on hearing about the story in July - pure horror. After being on two 'party' holidays, I can completely understand how realistic of a situation this could be. For example, when I visited Zante in 2018, there was worldwide media coverage of how the famous bar 'Cherry Bay' had been lacing/spiking drinks with methanol. Yep. Even people I knew of were hospitalised, it was all pretty terrifying. Additionally, one of my friends that I went with wandered off one night, and tried to get a taxi back to our hotel. I ended up finding her sat in the middle of the road covered in blood, with a smashed up phone - we still don't even know the full extent of what happened, but I know she suffered from the traumatic experience for a long time afterwards.. oh then fast forward a year later, I visited Ibiza thinking it was a much 'classier' therefore safer place compared to Zante, but nope. They have hundreds of 'fake taxis' which wait around after popular events. These tend to drive groups out into the countryside area between San Antonio and Playa d'en Bossa and rob possessions, demand money, or worse. Luckily we didn't come across any of these as I previously have mentioned, my friend's sister taxied us about as she lives there and knows what it can be like for vulnerable, drunk tourists.


Back to my focus point of the case, I just cannot put into words how sad I feel for the victim. There is evidence of bruises/wounds, 4 DNA samples from inside her an actual video, plus much more. Her clothes were never tested for DNA samples, which rings initial alarm bells for a start. She visited the hotel doctor who stated she had clearly been raped. Her mother said she was suffering mentally, with depression, insomnia and PTSD - how would this arise from something with supposedly never happened?


Then came the female protesters from both Cyprus and Israel - there to tell the world this is not a new thing to happen in these countries. The victims are made to feel invalid, and are silenced and shooed away by both governments. This British girl was portrayed as easy, careless and regretful.. as if she had optionally let this happen to her. It actually freaks me out how government officials could torture this poor young woman, not letting her return back to the UK, not letting her have her say, making her look like something she was not - essentially ruining her life day by day, when she is only 19 years old.


I could honestly make this an hour long read if I wanted to, because the case is so absurd and twisted and there is simply so much to say on it. I urge anyone who hasn't read the facts to do so right now. Perhaps take a look at Twitter discussions too since they emphasise the real heartache from other victims that the Cypriot & Israeli governments have silenced and made feel inadequate.


Here are some interesting articles in response to the case:



And two I particularly like linking to the title of this post:


Make yourself aware..


Mia

xo


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