VJ and host Anoushey Ashraf revealed in a recent interview that she is witness to less-privileged girls being regularly molested and exploited during the early days of her career.
Talking to journalist Asfa Sultan for a local publication, Anoushey, who burst onto the Pakistani RJ/VJ scene in the early 2000s, shared how times were different when she started out and how the transition to social media scrutiny has been for her.
During this conversation, Anoushey Ashraf shared how back in the end they would receive “fan mail and run into people on the streets” and didn’t know what “becoming a target of trolls and victim of social media aggression felt like.”
With time, however, Anoushey Ashraf was able to make more informed calls about how to react to online bullying and shared that she is aware of her privilege, while others may not have fared the same.
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Recalling her early days in the industry, Anoushey Ashraf shared that celebs back then were less vulnerable, adding, “However, women around us, who came from relatively less privileged households, were regularly molested, propositioned, given lesser money and odd jobs.”
The VJ went on to add some words of wisdom for her industry colleagues, saying, “If you’re not affected by a problem, you’re part of the problem. And if you see oppression, have with yourself a space to condemn it, and you don’t, you’re in the wrong.”
Anoushey Ashraf also emphasised the importance of learning and being better with time, admitting that she herself didn’t understand feminism very well back in the day, but made a conscious effort to learn better.
“It is our moral duty to understand and evolve. But I didn’t understand what feminism was back in the day either. I didn’t know until I saw Pakistani women come out with their stories of abuse and harassment. That’s when I thought, ‘ye tou meray sath bhi hua hai!” she said, further revealing, “Even I have been sexually harassed as a child.”
