“Sexual Violence”: Documentation of Real Life Stories

Fe-Male Organization produced a documentary tackling the issue of gender-based and sexual violence, directed by the Lebanese Director, Chadi Habr, within a project in partnership with The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering-RDFL and IM-Swedish. The documentary was released during the 16 days of activism of the year 2015 and screened all over Lebanon.
The documentary is based on real-life stories of four women where it tore up the thin veil behind which the suffering of thousands of women in Lebanon and around the world is being suppressed, and collects testimonies from women who, at some point or repeatedly, in their teenage or adult years, have fallen victims of social norms. The women in the documentary recalled distressing accounts of incest, forced marriage, rape and child molestation which they had to live with for substantial parts of their lives without having anyone to listen to them.
With 120 people attending the first screening, the documentary roamed Lebanon visiting five universities in its South, North, West and East, attracting more than 250 students, who were engaged in awareness-raising sessions and discussions around GBV and VAW.
Shocking figures released by the United Nations at the time revealed that around one in three women around the world experienced physical or sexual abuse at one point in her lifetime, allowed “Sexual Violence” to serve as a painful reminder of the injustices and sufferings of millions of women in Lebanon and around the world.