Viral Video Exposes Cultural Response to Rape in Tunisia
March 20, 2017
TUNIS, Tunisia (WOMENSENEWS)—Rania Bel Haj, a teen actor in Tunisia, didn’t consider women’s rights high on her list of priorities until she played a teen girl who was raped and forced to marry the older man who assaulted her in a high school video.
“I wasn’t truly a feminist before I interpreted this role,” Bel Haj said.
She plays an unnamed lead character, based on a recent case in Tunisia that made headlines.
“While rehearsing for the role, I felt close to the victim,” said Bel Haj, who, at 16, is close to same age and the same nationality as the minor in the case. The only difference, Bel Haj said, is that the other girl was “unlucky enough to be raped.”
Bel Haj imagined herself in this teen’s shoes, living out her fears and her insecurities after the awful experience. “That’s how I felt this connection with her.”
This is the same reaction many young girls in Tunisia had to the piece when they saw it on Facebook, where the three minute video went viral and garnered more than 670,000 views.
