KOTA SAMARAHAN: By sharing stories from survivors of sexual harassment and violence, the Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) wants to encourage conversations about a topic that is seldom talked about.
These stories will be displayed at the “Breaking Our Silence” exhibition which opens today at La Promenade Mall here.
SWWS volunteer Kim Tan said people were often reluctant to speak about sexual violence as it was largely seen as a taboo subject.
“No one really wants to talk about being a survivor of rape or abuse. But if we don’t talk about it, then it doesn’t come to light.
“As such, the exhibition is about normalising conversations about sexual harassment and violence. It’s also about unlearning bad habits, such as realising that wolf whistling makes women feel uncomfortable or unsafe,” she said.
The exhibition, which runs until April 16, is part of SWWS’ #BukanSalahKamek (It’s Not My Fault) campaign to address sexual harassment and violence in Sarawak, which Tan started in 2019.
As a survivor herself, she can attest to the importance of speaking up.
“I had to heal through the trauma, but I had a good support system in Australia. When I came back to Kuching, I saw the same thing happening to my friends but they couldn’t talk about it to anyone. Instead, they felt ashamed and bitter, when it wasn’t really their fault. Hence the name of the campaign,” she said.
Tan added that the exhibition aims to provide a safe space for survivors to know that they were not alone and to talk about their trauma without being judged.
“Our language about this topic has a lot of victim blaming,” she noted.
The survivors’ stories will be displayed in four spaces – playschool, classroom, workplace and bedroom – to show that sexual violence can happen anywhere.
Tan said nearly 100 stories had been collected since the campaign started calling for submissions in 2019.
Some were featured in a previous exhibition in 2019 while at least 25 new stories will be put up in the current show.
“It’s not women-centric only; about 20% to 30% of the submissions are from men. We want to make it inclusive, so the stories will be available in English, Bahasa Sarawak (the local Malay dialect) and Mandarin,” she said.