If you’re a woman even remotely active in the online space, we’re sure you’re used to getting creepy, and sometimes even vulgar, messages. And God save you, if you’re a woman with an opinion. Because how can a woman be capable of having an opinion, right?
Journalist Rana Ayyub, an independent columnist, has her Facebook inundating with messages from strangers. Seeing how she’s loved and hated at the same time by a lot of people, it’s pretty common too. But one particular message stood out amongst them, because of its vulgar language.
But instead of ignoring it like most of us do, she decided to shame the sender and tweeted about it.
After her tweet, the company where the man worked for in the UAE summoned him and fired him from his job.
Upon further inquiry into his online profiles, it was found that he had been sending hate messages and posting statuses against women and the religion of Islam on a daily basis.
The company went a step ahead and personally apologised to Rana Ayyub on his behalf.
However, it was far from over.
Acting on her tweets and seeing it as a formal complaint against Bincy Lal, the UAE government cancelled his visa and deported him to India.
Now that’s what we call a job done right.
It’s easy to send vulgar messages sitting behind a computer. What takes courage is to speak up against it, and if there’s anything that women can learn from this incident, it’s that speaking up can really bring about justice.