Acid attacks: from horror, women create beauty
Last month we posted about the gruesome practice of acid attacks:
Acid attacks are a form of gender violence; they are intended to silence women who stand up for themselves. Women were being attacked for doing well at work, protesting against domestic violence, leaving their jobs – essentially whenever they demonstrate independence. There is a myth that women are only attacked with acid when they reject someone’s sexual advances. But we found that it happened for all sorts of reasons: women of all castes, classes and religions were being attacked by husbands, lovers, employers, jealous colleagues and even landlords.
And we linked to this video:
Here's a new article from The Age describing how two women are coping with the brutal attacks they sustained:
Saira Liaqat squints through her one good eye as she brushes a woman's hair. Her face, most of which the acid melted years ago, occasionally lights up with a smile. Her hands, largely undamaged, deftly handle the dark locks.Nearby in this popular beauty salon, Urooj Akbar trims and paints fingernails. Her face, severely scarred from the blaze that burned about 70% of her body, is sombre. It's hard to tell if she's sad or if it's just the way she now looks. Ms Liaqat and Ms Akbar are among Pakistan's many female victims of arson and acid attacks. Such tales tend to involve a crazed lover and end in a life of despair and seclusion for the woman. But these two became beauticians.
The women can't escape the mirrors or pictures of glamorous models that surround them, but they consider the salon a second home and a good way to make a living. "Every person wishes that he or she is beautiful," Ms Liaqat, 21, said. "But in my view, your face is not everything. Real beauty lies inside a person, not outside."
"They do it because the world demands it," Ms Akbar, 28, said of clients. "For them, it's a necessity. For me, it isn't."
The women got into the beauty business thanks to the Depilex Smileagain Foundation, an organisation devoted to aiding women who have been burned in acid or other attacks.
________________________________
HOW YOU CAN HELP >>
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE
