Anastasiya Melnichenko. Source: Facebook. When Ukrainian women took to social media to speak about their experience of rape and sexual violence in mid-2016, using a hashtag created by Kyiv-based writer and feminist Anastasiya Melnychenko, they were accused of everything, from performing an “emotional striptease” to “lying to get attention”.
The full scope of the problem of sexual violence, which was soon discussed on Belarusian and Russian social media too, shocked many of these women’s male friends and followers, those who never imagined that the women they know could have dealt with this phenomenon, discussions of which are still considered taboo by conservative members of society.
One year on, oDR’s Natalia Antonova spoke with Anastasiya Melnychenko about how her work continues in the form of a book on sexual assault, which is aimed at teenagers —and how to avoid burn-out when trying to change people’s attitudes about sexual violence.
