Although women across the world often face abuse for their values or physical appearances, women’s rights activists such as Juana Jaafar say Malay Muslim women in particular “are targeted in a different way, especially when it comes to how they present themselves”.
The report gave the example of a 15-year-old girl who had aspired to be Malaysia’s first female prime minister but was brutally abused online for not wearing a hijab.
Juana told the BBC the attacks became so bad that the girl deleted her Twitter account and was forced to seek help.
Likewise, 25-year-old Maryam Lee received threats to her physical safety for days after she decided to stop wearing her hijab.
“It’s not just about people not liking your views, it’s about people bulldozing your entire existence, your self-esteem,” she was quoted as saying.
“When you give language to a [movement] that questions the status quo, they get much more insecure.”
Although the issue at hand may relate to religion or social norms, the abuse received by such victims is often targeted at seemingly irrelevant matters such as their physical appearance.
Twitter user Nalisa Alia Amin, for example, was condemned for her anti-patriarchal and pro-LGBT views. However, those who criticised her focused on her body, spreading screenshots zooming in on her thighs or photos of her next to pictures of animals.
“People who couldn’t stand my views have attacked my appearances, especially my body since I’m on the chubby side,” she said in the report.
Arlina Arshad meanwhile was panned so much for her weight that she became suicidal. Even then, she was accused of seeking attention, with some social media users saying “kalau tikam pun tak lepas lemak” (even if she was stabbed, it wouldn’t go past the fat).
DAP’s Dyana Sofya, who has received her share of criticism for her clothes and appearance, called the female body “a constant battleground for men to argue about”.
“A woman may be covered from head to toe, but someone will still complain that the covering is not baggy enough or long enough,” she was quoted as saying.
Alicia Izharuddin, a senior gender studies lecturer at Universiti Malaya, said although such things happened across the globe, in Malaysia they came with “an extra layer” of “moral justification that is rooted in quite narrow interpretations of religion”.
Juana agreed, telling the BBC: “Certainly if you have a Malay name, you become immediately visible.”