It is no secret that women in the entertainment industry are harassed and are at the receiving end of endless hate messages and trolls. However, with the recent #MeToo movement, women have started speaking out against harassment which means that more and more cases are coming forward.
Model Zara Peerzada recently took to Instagram to share how she has been approached by an ‘escort agency’ for sex work. She stated that she was sharing her story because she feels that speaking about such issues will break the culture of silence.
In an Instagram story, Zara shared screenshots of her conversation with an account named top_celebrity-service.
The first message from the account read, “Hi we will pay u 200k for work. We deal only in celebrities, models, news anchor. We have high profile clients from abroad and Pakistan. If you will work with us we will surely prefer your privacy and dignity. We don’t do work like third class agencies. We deal in corporate side as well. If you have any query feel free to contacts us. Thanks.”
While Zara said that she receives such messages every now and then, the account’s next message really irked her. The message read, “Showbiz is life of fun. What is showbiz if you think showbiz is not fun?”
To this Zara replied, “It’s about talent and expression and art.”
When Zara uploaded screenshots of this conversation on her story, she received abuses and strong language from the user.
Zara then said that models and female actors, whether they are Mahira Khan or Meesha Shafi or just a “small time model”, all have to deal with constant threats and abuses because of the cultural and national perspective of women in entertainment.
“Telling woman to ignore their reality is never the answer, it is not the job of women to ignore the evil in the world and to turn a blind eye to cultural and global offenses to us. It is our job to collectively call them out and rectify them.”
In the end, Zara uploaded this message saying that she has nothing against sex workers but she has a problem with “the perspective and assumption of women in entertainment as a whole.”
Zara received strong support from other members of the entertainment industry including model Saheefa Jabbar Khattak.
