Pakistani actress Mawra Hocane came under fire on social media for trivializing harassment in one of her previous videos. An old video of actress resurfaced on social media in which the actress glorified public harassment in one of her comments on a TV show.
The clip shows Nida Yasir asking Hocane, “Has anyone ever teased you?” in response to which she says, “I think that’s just Lahore’s fun, boys tease you with music roaring from their cars. I think that’s just the feel of Lahori Eid.” She then went on to add, “So we don’t mind. It’s okay, keep looking at us” said Mawra Hocane in the video.
Nida Yasir asked her again if she would not mind if anyone teases her right now. Hocane said she would not mind. “Yes, it doesn’t matter, it’s your Eid too),” said Mawra Hocane in the clip.
https://twitter.com/Abbasayy/status/1286340678000218114?s=20
Mawra Hocane trivialises harassment
The clip ended with the audience laughing. However, comments of Mawra Hocane infuriated the social media users who deemed that the statement of actress tantamount to normalizing harassment. While other social media users said that it might be her opinion, the actress should not generalize. A female social media user said that Mawra Hocane may not mind harassment but other girls do.
did ‘advocate’ Mawra hocane really just say ‘harassment’ is okay as it’s a part of ‘Lahore charm’ and we don't mind???? fam I always knew she was dumb headed idiot af but holyshit
— 🇵🇸م (@mominaaxx) July 24, 2020
“Keep looking at us? This in a nutshell is why I hated growing up in Lahore. And here she sits glorifying limiting public spaces for women,” said one user.
Read more: Mawra & Urva Hocane under fire for insensitive ‘Depression’ statement
Another uses anticipated that perhaps Mawra Hocane has never faced the extreme cases of harassment hence she can talk lightly of public harassment.
Does she realise she’s indirectly calling harrassment an expected norm and a cultural trait? Does she realise this is encouraging the kind of behaviour that other girls, without bodyguards, will have to endure????? @MawraHocane you can do better!!https://t.co/5b7oPXEONa
— Rameesha 🥑 Syed (@rameeshasyedd) July 23, 2020
A group of social media users slammed Mawra Hocane for being insensitive to the victims of harassment. They said that celebrities should be mindful of passing statements publically. Their ill-thought words can hurt people, said social media users.
Insensitive remarks on depression
However, this is not the first time Mawra Hocane has triggered public outrage. Earlier Hocane sisters said they believe depression is only caused due to an unhealthy diet in a morning show. Their ill-informed comments caused fits of laughter among social media users.
Mawra hoCane is a barrister-at-law. Let that sink in.
— Shazeb (@shazebmushtaq) July 24, 2020
The Hocane sisters appeared on a morning show to promote their new clothing brand. They spoke about drinking water as a remedy for good skin, exercising, embracing positivity, and focusing on oneself and spoke at great lengths about their brand. However, things went downhill from there with no recovery in sight.
The actresses spoke about their eating habits, with Urwa admitting to being a vegetarian.
Mawra spoke about eating clean and healthy food and how a bad diet can cause lethargy the next day. “It can affect your mental illness,” added Urwa, “There are so many issues today, like depression and mental disease – it is all because of food. There is no other reason.” Then Urwa went the extra mile and used the term “moti”, instead of referring to a plus-sized person as “overweight”. Urwa ruling out other factors of depression came as a shock to people on social media. Their short video clip from the interview went viral.
Read more: Rishi Kapoor posts picture with Mawra Hocane
People schooled the Hocane sisters that not only eating disorders but other factors as well contribute to depression-related illnesses. Twitteratis asked sisters to stop trivializing depression. Since, with its increasing incidence in society, there is a need for an extensive public discourse to educate people about its treatment and prevention. There has been a surge in depression leading to suicide, with many people, instead of seeking help, end up taking their lives.