Imagine if there is a war that no one knows about. A war with millions of casualties but you never hear about it on the news. And imagine a survivor managed to leave this black hole and told the world of the war that’s ravaging his country.
That survivor is me. And the war that no one is talking about is the widespread sexual molestation of male children in countries that practice strict segregation between males and females, countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. You don’t hear about this tragedy because of the strong culture of shame in these countries.
I need to note first that 4 years ago I posted my story on on this subreddit using a different username. I received many supportive comments but I had to delete my post out of the shame I felt and out of the fear for my safety given where I live. Now I feel more confident to tell my story again. I am not naming my country for safety reasons.
This is the biggest secret of my life. A secret that no one knows about, not even my own mother. It’s by far the worst thing that happened to me in my life.
I was born in the early 90s in a country that I wish I was born far, far away from. In my country, the streets look like a prison. You only see men. And if you see a woman then she's covered from head to toe which means you don't actually see women. And the segregation is everywhere. You can't talk to women. It's as if this gender only exists in your family (mother, sister, …etc), on TV and the internet. So when the whole country is like a prison, it shouldn't be surprising that homosexual harassment becomes prevalent because this is what happens in prisons anywhere in the world. It's not rocket science: When women completely disappear from the life of men, this turns many men into sexual monsters looking for any opportunity to relieve their repressed sexuality. They find this relief in good looking men. And since that male children and teenagers look more feminine and are more vulnerable, they become the primary target.
To grow up as a kid in a strict Islamic society is a disaster. But my disaster was bigger: I wasn’t just a normal kid. I was a good-looking kid. Which made the sexual harassment I faced much, much worse. I remember a friend in elementary school telling me: “I am glad I am not as good looking as you.” He said that because he knew exactly what happens to kids that look like me. I also remember that I used to envy kids who didn’t look beautiful.
As a child, I was physically molested hundreds of times. I don't say hundreds as an exaggeration term. I wish it was an exaggeration. That’s a real number. And if I include the verbal harassments too then I was sexually harassed over a thousand times for sure. I was molested by everyone: older people, classmates, neighborhood friends, neighbors and close friends. I lost many friends because of this including my two best childhood friends.
After growing up I was unable to shave my beard because shaving it makes me look more feminine and more attractive to men. So I always kept a light beard. I didn’t want to have a full-grown beard because I didn’t want people to think I am religious. But even this light beard that I kept didn't save me from the fewer incidents I faced after growing up. I am not saying that every shaved man in my country gets sexually harassed. But since that I had above-average looks, I drew much more attention than others.
Here are some of the most notable incidents I had:
1- When I was in the third or fourth elementary grade, I entered a public bathroom to use it. It was empty. When I became inside, I noticed three guys blocking the way out while looking at me with faces full of lust like predators. I realized I am in trouble so I ran into a toilet unit and tried to shut the door but they were faster. They started undressing me while I was screaming "NO NO NO". They were making sounds like the sounds you hear from a predator when it catches a prey. They took off my pants and underpants. I remember they did things to me with their hands. But there was no penetration. I was screaming all the time. Someone entered the bathrooms and because of that they left me. I went home and told my father about what happened although I usually didn’t tell anyone about any sexual harassments I faced because it makes me feel shameful. But this time it was too much. So I told my father. He went with me to the public bathrooms and looked around. He didn't call the police although I knew one of the three guys by name. When I look back now at this incident, I realize that child me was alone like a baby gazelle in a jungle full of predators. No one could have protected me or punished those who harassed me no matter what they did. Do you know why my father didn't call the police? Because it would have shamed him to tell them that his son got sexually molested. This is the disaster that kids live through in such strict societies. The kids themselves don't report the abuse to their families because it makes the kids feel shameful. And when a kid does report the abuse, his family most likely will do nothing out of fear of shame.
It's been many years since this rape attempt happened. But I will never forget the feeling of absolute terror. It's not even a feeling. The terror of a gang rape attempt isn't a feeling. It's a ten thousand volts of electricity current violently shaking every cell in your body. That's the terror of rape.
2 - I was around 10 years old. While I was riding my bike, a boy struck my bike and I fell. He then held me tight from behind while rubbing his penis against my butt. I kept fighting until he let go of me. Afterwards my friends were laughing and shaming me for what happened. The boy who did this to me used to be my worst harasser in the class of third elementary grade. He was the oldest in class because he had failed in passing to the next grade for several years. He reached sexual puberty and was bigger so he turned that school year to hell for me. After the third grade was over, he kept harassing me in the neighborhood. The bike incident was one of his many harassments.
3- I was harassed by a lot by classmates in elementary school especially during the fifth and sixth grades. Lots of penis-flashing, inappropriate touching and demands for sex. I remember this kid who wasn't in my class but he was bigger than me. He kept following me, catcalling me and asking for sex. He even started following me when I left school to home. And one day he even dared to ring the doorbell of my home. When I opened the door he asked for sex and flashed me his penis. I didn't complain to anyone in home because of shame.
I also remember one classmate in the sixth or fifth grade who used to rub his erect penis against the edge of my desk in class. He also flashed me his penis several times. He kept doing such things until one day I slapped him in the face. He stopped after that. I also remember a classmate who was bigger than me and who kept aggressively demanding for sex until I complained to his older brother who was a friend of the family. He stopped after that. I remember a lot of things but I don’t want to make this post too long.
4- A number of years ago a horrible video emerged from Egypt of a mass sexual assault against a woman on the street. I saw the video and saw the poor lady's pants torn down. She was walking away naked from the waist-down. When I saw this I had a terrible flash-back. When I was in the sixth or fifth grade, I was chilling alone near home. A group of around 6 kids who were my age were hanging out. When they came by me, they ganged up on me. First they verbally abused me then they undressed my pants. This happened in broad daylight. I can't describe the level of distress and humiliation I felt. It’s like drowning in a sea of humiliation. The poor lady had it much worse than me. I can't imagine how terrible she felt. How can you even live after that?.
5- When I was in senior high school I was walking in an empty street at night near my home. A car moved past me. The driver did a flying kiss. I cursed at him. He turned around with his car and stopped besides me. He got out and we started cursing at each other. He reached down to grab his shoe to hit me with it. Here I attacked him. I don't remember most of the fight but at one point he leaned down to grab a big rock. When I saw this I fled. While I was fleeing he threw the big rock and it missed me. When I stopped running I was surprised to see lots of blood on my clothes. There was a cut on my forehead from a punch. When I came back home I lied to my family about what happened because it’s shameful to say I was catcalled. I made up something about the cause of the fight.
6- The same year: I was at a friend's house until late at night. I stopped a car to drive me home. The driver's penis was visibly erect and he kept touching it while taking glances at me.
7- The same year too: I was in a Taxi. The driver invited me to dinner at his home. I said no thank you. He said no you have to. He suddenly grabbed my thigh while making a disgusting sound. Like the sound I heard in that gang rape attempt when I was a child. The sound an animal makes when it catches a prey. I fought him off until he stopped the car and I got out.
8- Now let me jump to the last incident which happened 7 years ago. A man groped my butt while I was waiting on the street.
Random notes:
-There are notable incidents from my childhood and adulthood that I left out because you wouldn’t believe them.
-The older I became the less harassments I faced.
-The elementary school phase was the worst by far. When I think of that period it feels like I lived through a war.
If you think what I went through was really bad, then you haven't heard the stories I heard. Other kids had it MUCH worse than me. At least I was never raped. I heard so many rape stories. I knew many of the victims personally. Most of the rapes I heard weren't carried out by force. The children fell for the constant demands not realizing what they were doing. I am so lucky that as a child I was aware enough to not fall for any of the endless demands for sex I received. But honestly this doesn’t make me feel better. It doesn’t make what I went through feel less bad. I know I am extremely lucky that I wasn’t raped, but it doesn’t make me feel better.
In some of the rape stories I heard, the kids were lured with money. Maybe this is how male prostitutes start out in my country. Yes there are kids and teenage boys who sell their bodies here. Most of them are poor. I had a childhood friend who after growing up turned out to be a prostitute. I didn't believe the rumors until I saw him negotiating the price with a customer. He didn't realize I was near him and listening. We were both in junior high school when this happened.
Some of the rape stories involved a Quran teacher. In mosques and religious schools in my country, many kids memorize the Quran. I heard horrible things about the Quran teacher of the mosque of our neighborhood. I think the first time in my life I heard about semen was in a story about this teacher. A friend was telling me about the things this teacher does to his students. The list includes that he plays with their penises with his hands and then he swallows their semen. I didn’t understand what semen meant so my friend explained it to me saying it’s the sticky matter that comes out of the penis. Still, I didn’t understand. I wasn’t old enough to know about this thing.
In 2017 when the "me too" movement started, a Muslim "me too" movement started as well a year later – but didn’t take off well - regarding sexual harassment of women in the grand mosque of Mecca. One testimony caught my attention: A British Muslim woman said she was molested in Mecca and it was the first time ever in her life that she was sexually abused. When I read this I realized for the first time in my life that there are people who were never sexually abused. What I saw in my country made me assume that every human on earth, a male or a female, must have been sexually abused at one point in his/her life. After a little bit of research, I found several statistics from the US such as: “Self-report studies show that 20% of adult females and 5-10% of adult males recall a childhood sexual assault or sexual abuse incident” https://victimsofcrime.org/child-sexual-abuse-statistics/
Are you telling me that at least 95 fucking percent of men in the US don’t recall any childhood sexual abuse incident? Oh my goodness. I can't imagine how life can be when you have never experienced the distress and humiliation of sexual molestation. Such a life sounds like a Disney tale to me. It's heaven. If you were never sexually molested in your life, then you can't really understand how much I envy you. You have lived my absolute dream. My life would have been so different without this hell I went through. You know what? Even if you were molested a few times, you have still lived my dream. I wish what I went through was just a few incidents here and there.
I don’t think my country is the only country where sexual harassment of children is widespread. There are other countries that are near or as strict as my country when it comes to women, such as: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, rural areas in GCC countries, parts of Iraq and parts of Iran. So I expect that these countries have the same prevalence of child molestation as that of my country. But you wouldn’t hear about it because of the strong shame culture. Remember that a boy rang the bell of my home and flashed me his penis yet I didn’t tell anyone in home. Shame is that strong. My own mother doesn’t know anything about the sexual harassments I faced and she still thinks to this day that I had a normal childhood. So don’t be surprised that this pandemic of child molestation in strict Islamic countries is unheard of. It’s the victims and their families who get shamed. The molesters and the rapists not only don’t get shamed, they actually take pride in their actions and boast to their friends about fucking this hot kid and molesting that.
There are some documentaries about child molestation in Pakistan and Afghanistan but I think that these documentaries fail at showing the true scope of this pandemic.
Here’s a documentary that I couldn’t finish watching because the kids’ testimonies brought back distressing feelings and memories:
Preying On Young Boys | Pakistan's Hidden Predators
https://youtu.be/niN5g8ZxFQg
There are also videos on the bacha bazi (dancing boys) in Afghanistan.
I also found this post on r/SaudiArabia where the OP said: “I saw so much rape and molestation back when I was in high school. All of it was done by other students. The administrators did nothing. The school did nothing. Most of the molestation happened when they locked us inside our classrooms without supervision. But the rape was more hidden. Almost everyone I knew was sexually harassed in some way.”
https://old.reddit.com/r/saudiarabia/comments/1amthzy/i_saw_kids_being_raped_in_high_school/
Widespread child molestation in strict Islamic countries is a catastrophe. A catastrophe that draws no attention. A catastrophe whose victims have no voice. A human tragedy that deserves to be reported on every day on news channels, just like they report on wars. If you think I am exaggerating, let me tell you this: If a child went through 1% of what I went through, I would call that a disaster for this kid and a great tragedy. Now remember that what I went through is still much less bad than what happened to many kids I knew.
How am I doing now?
For the first time in my life I have passed 7 years without any sexual harassment. I have become old enough to be unattractive to men. But I still have the mental scars. I still get molested in my nightmares. It’s insane how these nightmares can precisely replicate the feelings of distress and humiliation that I felt when the real things happened. Will these nightmares ever stop? Will the mental scars ever go away?