May Fatal picture in swimsuit.
Social media debate sparked by bikini-clad harassment victim
Female IDF soldier who was sexually harassed by officer reveals identity but focus drawn to her Facebook photos in swimsuit cause debate over appearance and harassment.
A female IDF soldier who was sexually harassed by an officer in the Givati brigade disclosed her identity on Monday - a move that caused a viral debate about a woman's appearance and rape.
After May Fatal revealed her identity on Monday, attention quickly veered to her Facebook pictures – specifically a picture of her in a swimsuit.
May Fatal's Facebook picture. (Photo: Facebook)
In the post, May expressed her dismay at the court offering Lieutenant Colonel Liran Hajbi, her assailant, what she said was a soft indictment and plea bargain.
However, the viral debate that emerged dealt solely with May's appearance, with some on social media blaming May for putting up pictures of herself in a bikini and thereby inviting men to treat her in a certain way.
Politicians, celebrities and social media users quickly came to Fatal's defense, saying that just because a woman wears a bikini does not mean that she is inviting a man to sexually harass her.
Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich shared a photo of Fatal in a bathing suit on her Facebook page and wrote a sarcastic post in which she mimicked those who lashed out at Fatal.
"Hi May, it's Shelly. You crossed every possible boundary. You should be ashamed. A victim of a sexual harasser and also very pretty? And smiling? And going to the beach in a bikini? And to choose to tell your story in the open after you felt that justice had not been made. Did you not know that your role as a victim is to wrap yourself in silence and sink into depression, or at most be interviewed with a shadow, voice distortion and be called M.?
Photo of May Fatal shared by Shelly Yachimovitch on Facebook.
"Did you not know that you should feel ashamed and upset that your commander was dismissed from the army? How did you dare think that your officer, a married man with children and almost twice your age, who sexually harassed you for two months, would get punished according to criminal law? And, if we're already thinking about it, how did you dare complain in the first place?"
Yachimovich's scathing post tried to tackle the phenomenon known as victim blaming – when a woman who is raped is blamed for what happened to her.
In the long Facebook post, Yachimovich applauded Fatal for bravely sharing her story and said that her Facebook pictures were completely normal for a young, pretty and happy girl.
On Monday, Fatal wrote on her Facebook page: "I understood that I have no other choice but to share my personal story, because after all I went through I am now forced to deal with a degrading indictment and a plea bargain that is no less humiliating than the incident itself and I feel choked up in my throat."
According to the plea bargain, Hajbi would resign from his position but not face prosecution for sex crimes.
"I don't want to hide behind a letter," wrote May, "and therefore I'm telling my story for all of those young women who went through what I went through who are hidden by a letter, if it all."
"I didn't think that I would be in a situation where I would once again feel hopeless, stuck and silenced, this time in the face of a blocked system, and I never thought for a moment that I would understand those who do not complaint because they know in advance the 'severity' of the punishment that sexual harassers receive in Israel," wrote May.
Hajbi was indicted in Mach on charges of hugging, kissing and harassing his female soldiers by text message, and was charged with another clause that was not made public. The officer was relieved from his position last December.
Hajbi’s military attorney, Colonel Asher Halperin, said in response: “The complainant chose to present a very different story than the one she told for months after her interrogation. Let’s recall that it was the complainant, through her proxy, who accepted the (plea) arrangement and agreed to it. We can only just wonder why, immediately after signing it, and completely contrasted with her position as presented to the military advocate general, the complainant came out against the deal, while defaming all those involved in its drafting."
