A taste of daily oppression, for men

Facebook, news websites and other aggregation sites brought a short French film called 'Majorité Opprimée', which translates to 'Oppressed Majority' to over 6.5 million viewers over the past week, with the world turned upside down as a man has to take in the view of sweaty bare-chested women jogging or pissing in the street, wolf-whistled and humiliated by foul-mouthed women, and finally physically and sexually assaulted.

Compassion, from either the police or his breadwinning wife, is close to zero: the man, in his light shirt and shorts, "has asked for it".

Lara Dimitrijevic, the founder of Women's Right Foundation, says the film's depiction at what women put up with in their daily lives angered her. "It made me feel uncomfortable when I watched the subtle messages and being faced with the reality that some women put up with."

Its role reversal will shock viewers who see men being forced to wear God-fearing balaclavas by their wives - the suggestion being they are 'Muslim husbands' - who cannot grow beards and facial hair, and must display modesty and not answer back.

"It's significant because it turns the issue upside down and exposes certain behaviours that are sometimes taken for granted, considered normal or often never considered from the perspective of a victim," Mark Pellicano, of Men Against Violence, told MaltaToday of Oppressed Majority and the way this film "challenges manhood and the qualities of masculinity".

"It has a shock value, but that is what is needed sometimes to get the conversation going and raise awareness. It emphasises the incongruence found in our society, the offences women face are perceived to be the norm while they would otherwise sound outrageous if men had to face them."

The sexist encounters start with the female neighbour complaining about some condominium affairs, then patronising the man: "I should really be talking to your wife." The man trundles his kid's pushchair out the door only to be pounced upon by a sweaty, shirtless women who has been out jogging; then come the wolf-whistles, the humiliating threats from a homeless banshee, and then a gang of women who mock him and assault him with a blade after he tells them off. The scene becomes especially gripping when the female police officer taking his statement is suspicious of his report, even when he says "She pinched my testicles ... then she took my penis in her mouth and bit it."

Lara Dimitrijevic says the insensitivity of the police officer taking his statement after being assaulted, reading it out loud, insinuating that no one would believe him, or the point where his wife meets him in hospital and informs him that she was caught up at work, and him having to applaud her for her good job "are just a few examples of the daily life of many women in today's world, even those (societies) that call themselves democratic and emancipated, including ours."

Dimitrijevic says blaming female victims even in rape, for being 'provocatively' dressed, is a reality women are living with on a daily basis. "Many are those women that often feel humiliated when filing a police report... a woman running bare-chested is considered indecent and unacceptable in many societies, because the female breast has been sexualised."

Dimitrijevic says the film exposes the patriarchy of society, and although men might be irked by the role reversal, it's women who should feel angry at having to deal with patriarchy or the fact that "female sexuality and their role is still controlled by men."

"It exposes the silent majority of men that contain and preserve this patriarchal society as unfair and unjust and mistrustful of women."