Imane Bent el-Howat, a Moroccan folk singer, sparked an outrage due to her recently released song which urges women to enjoy being beaten by their husbands.
Domestic violence is a norm in Morocco. A recent survey put the rate of domestic violence as high as 63%. However, Imane’s new track, dubbed ‘al-Banat Kamouniyat’ (The Battered Woman) claims women enjoy being beaten by their husbands.
The song have verses that translate to “a slap fixes the mood” and “they say beating comes from paradise, the one who tastes it, gets peace”.
In an interview, the musician explained how “if she tasted his beating she won’t forget his love” and that “he won’t let anyone else beat me and it [beating] is a show of jealousy which means love”.
Imane’s flawed concept can be blamed on the fact that domestic violence is pretty common in Morocco and every tenth the women have been its target at least once.
She further argues in the interview about how mothers usually teach their daughters that if a man truly loves you he will be possessive about you and will beat you.
However, many rights activists flatly rejected Imane’s point of view and termed it a horrible way of seeking fame and attention. Many took to twitter to speak against the musician and her song, calling it a bad image for Muslim woman.
Recently a Moroccan channel was also criticized for showing “ways of doing make up to hide bruises of being beaten”. The channel later apologized but the image that it gave away stayed intact.
Although efforts are being made to control domestic violence against women; however, Moroccan women have a long way to go before they can see a real change in this regard.