As a fellow middle eastern woman, I am ashamed of the abuse that has become normalised in our culture. Let me tell you my story..

I am the carer of my disabled brother who urgently needed dental surgery for his teeth as they actually broke and the nerve is exposed. My parents are both from wealthy families and can easily afford the surgery as they have spent more on travelling and cars than the surgery.

Because i asked my dad to pay and he said i allegedly asked rudely.. later on my brother from the pain of his tooth ran away from home and i chased after him.. my dad followed but instead of helping started to slap me in public. And threatened to beat my brother.. a man and his wife saw and were going to start punching on with my dad as they saw he was beating me.. after I resolved the issues and got my brother back home. My dad told my mum he hit me because im "rude". All i demanded was that my parents pay for surgery as i pay for everything else to do with my brother and never ask from them money.. so yes thats the arab mentality

Its to bash women who are assertive, or who can speak up. I am so ashamed, even my grandparents think this behaviour is unreasonable. It was never normal to bash women but somehow our parents have normalised it.

They want to control everything from what i do for work, to how i talk.

I am so sad and tired