‘Sulli Deals’ row: ‘Auctioned’ Muslim women call out Islamophobia, sexism

Hyderabad: “My first emotion was one of powerlessness. I wondered why these men viewed me, viewed us as an object which could be auctioned off,” said Nabiya Khan, a 25-year-old poet, and an activist.
Khan, along with countless Muslim women found their pictures on an application named “Sulli Deals” on the open-source platform Github. When an individual opens the app, a photo of any of these women is randomly generated and offers the viewer their ‘sulli deal of the day’– which is supposed to hint at the fact that these women are available to satisfy a man’s needs.
Also Read DCW takes cognizance of online harassment of Muslim women The term “Sulli” is an offensive slur used against Muslim women and has made the rounds time and again in communal pogroms.
Abeeda, (name changed) a 22-year-old graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia said that she was unable to get over the incident. “Seeing myself there as someone’s ‘Sulli Deal of the day’ was traumatizing and humiliating. I don’t know if I will ever feel the dignity needed to put up a picture of myself on Twitter again,” she said.
When asked if she was willing to file an FIR with the police, Abeeda said that she is unsure as the “system supports men like them.” Talking about the perpetrators, Abeeda also said that she was once added to a private group chat on Twitter named “Abeeda Sulli Sale” where she was being auctioned off.