ABAAD - Resource Center for Gender Equality: Dirty Laundry

Leo Burnett Beirut and ABAAD have teamed up with multi-disciplinary artist Remie Akl to launch ‘Dirty Laundry’, a bold take on silencing and shaming rape victims. The film opens with the radically poetic Remie, explaining how survivors of sexual abuse in Lebanon are taught to hide their 'dirty laundry' from everyone, and to believe they are responsible for carrying the honour and dignity of their entire family, so they must stay silent. But what if they challenge this reality? With Remie Akl’s trademark lyricism, she calls out dirty laundry for what it really is: a crime. Remie previously partnered with Leo Burnett on ABAAD’s Cannes-winning campaign of 2021, Baklava Got Legs. Her latest film is inspired by a study that ABAAD conducted in 2022, which found that 60% of women who were sexually assaulted did not report the crime because they felt ashamed or pressured not to tarnish the 'honour' of the family. In November, as part of UN Women’s 16 days of Activism, Abaad launched #NoShameNoBlame, a campaign demanding a serious sentence for a serious crime. The campaign aims to amend Chapter 7 of the Lebanese penal code, which allows sexual assaulters to get away without punishment or with absurdly minimal sentences. ‘Dirty Laundry’ follows the launch of a webisode series hosted by Lebanon’s most famous model and influencer Nour Arida, who gave her voice and platforms (17 million followers) to rape survivors sparking an unprecedented and open conversation about the topic with four heart-wrenching testimonials. A stunt outside Lebanon’s parliament also took place on the 26th of November where dozens of rape survivors, activists and influencers hung their dirty laundry outside parliament, amplifying the voices of those who couldn’t speak.