“Do not cover domestic violence with makeup, condemn the aggressor!”
Moroccan TV program “Sabahiyaf,” a show dedicated to women on Moroccan channel 2M, is in hot water after airing a makeup tutorial teaching women how to cover up bruising from domestic violence.
The side eye inducing how-to features a woman with fake bruises around her eyes and a makeup artist demonstrating techniques for concealing the black and blue discoloration. And while the tutorial was meant to provide “beauty tips to help you carry on with your daily life,” the segment disturbed viewers and consequently inspired a Change.org petition calling for “severe sanctions” against the show.
“As Moroccan women and as feminist activists in Morocco, and in the name of all Moroccan people, we denounce the message of normalization with violence against women,” reads the petition, with over 2800 signatures and counting. Rather than teaching women how to cover up domestic abuse with makeup, the petition suggests empowering women to bring their offenders to justice.
“Do not cover domestic violence with makeup, condemn the aggressor!,” it declares.
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In an apology issued on Facebook (because we knew one was coming), 2M network says the November 23 segment which ironically aired just days before the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women, was a “poor error of judgement” and a misalignment of their culture, which seeks to uplift and support women.
“This approach is in complete contradiction with the editorial line of the chain, with the charter 2M valorization of the image of the woman, and especially with the commitment of 2M for 27 years in favour of the defence [of] the rights of the wife,” they wrote. But despite attempts to rectify the situation, the apology is unregretful to many.
“When you think how they could have chosen to show how to defend yourself, or advice and examples from women who had managed to get out of those situations, your choices were endless if you really wanted to ‘help,’ which makes the whole thing even more appalling. It’s not even in the vicinity of a mistake,” one person commented.
“Showing how to cover birthmarks is one thing — but put the very idea into anyone’s mind to show them how to help a woman beater get away with it? Despicable. There is no excuse for such a ‘mistake’ when it is so extraordinarily purposeful and passes through many hands and ‘okays’ before it would ever even hit a TV screen!” someone else added.