Perhaps the shaking-my-headiest video on the internet this month is the one above, taken from a segment that aired on state-run Moroccan TV last week that taught women how to properly hide their bruises from domestic "beatings" with makeup. The tutorial features a woman whose bruises are not real, but the message that the nonchalant tutorial seems to send is all too real.
The video is in Arabic, but according to the Washington Post, here are a few choice lines of dialogue from the TV host, Lilia Mouline:
"It's a subject we shouldn't talk about, but unfortunately that's what it is. We hope that these beauty tips help you carry on with your normal life."
There was outrage on Twitter once the video began to spread online.
"Do not cover domestic violence with makeup, condemn the aggressor!" read an online petition that had about 2,000 signatures on Monday afternoon. The petition called for Morocco's High Authority of Audiovisual Communication, which regulates television in the nation, to punish the show, "Sabayihat," and the channel, 2M, for airing such a video.
"As Moroccan women and as feminist activists in Morocco, and in the name of all Moroccan people, we denounce the message of normalization with violence against women," the petition said.
Mouline, the segment's host, reportedly spoke to a radio station in Morocco and said that while the show definitely doesn't endorse domestic violence, "We are here to provide solutions to these women who, for a period of 2 to 3 weeks, are putting their social life aside while their wounds heal."
One comment on the video on the show's website noticed by the Telegraph pointed out the irony: "So 2M has decided to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women with anti-bruise makeup!"
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was recognized by the United Nations just two days after the segment originally aired.
