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Earlier this month an Uzbek groom hitting his new bride in the head at their wedding reception because he lost a game made international . This is not the first time brides have been hit by their newly wed partners - there are a plethora of similar cases caught on and circulated on local social media platforms. The availability of mobile phones and the internet to record violence and publicize it made it possible to draw attention to the severity of the issue of violence against women, but legal response measures still haven't overtaken unwritten social rules.

Domestic violence has traditionally been viewed as a private, "family matter," but in recent years actions by the Uzbek government have demonstrated the political will to begin addressing it - granting civil society and the public space to openly discuss the issue. Notably, Tashkent issued two presidential decrees to prevent domestic violence and to improve social rehabilitation of its victims in 2018. A year later, the government adopted two laws on guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities and on protection of women from harassment and violence. Tashkent also introduced protection orders (up to two months) and rehabilitation centers (including shelters) for victims of gender based violence. Despite these measures, violence continues.

The nature of violence in Uzbekistan is perpetual. Women and children are treated as property and domestic violence is still seen as a mere "family matter." Traditions dictate that wives need to be patient through thick and thin, while children are never to look defiantly in the eyes of their parents, let alone speak up or go against their parents' will. Years of having no control in life decisions transforms into tyranny over those even weaker. Men, who grew up having no say in any decision as children or young adults, coupled with unemployment (especially in rural areas), lack of income and self-realization in life, finally get a taste of power and control when they have a wife. Similarly, women, who live first under the strict control of their parents then of a husband, may become a "monster-in-law" when their sons finally marry. Controlling household matters and having power over a kelin (daughter-in-law) is the only way to feel self-worth and importance.

The youth are not independent. Every major life decision - whether to study at higher institutions or not (especially for girls), whom to marry and when, where to live, when to move out of their parents' house, and more - are decided mostly by the elderly, sometimes through manipulation and force. For example, forced marriage is not widespread, but arranged marriage limits choices of the youth considerably. Parents, through match-making, find a proper family that fits their own socioeconomic status and arrange a few dates for the youth. In most cases, both young boys and girls have to decide whether to marry the "chosen one by parents" or not after a couple of dates. To note, in 2021, over girls under the age of 20 got married - marriages were registered in total.

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While many obey the elderly out of love and adherence to social norms, financial dependence deepens the issue of power and control. University fees, wedding and living expenses are all covered by parents in a majority of cases. Most men live under the roof of their parents, even after marriage. When men leave for Russia or other countries for work, they send money not to their wives, but to their parents, who then in turn allocate the remittance to the wife. When the "infamous" groom (born in 1997) hit his bride, a "preventive" discussion was held by law enforcement representatives not only with him and the bride, but with their parents as well. This is just another indicator of the power dynamics at the micro-level - parents control children regardless of age, husbands abuse wives, mothers-in-law abuse kelins.

Media, especially the entertainment media industry, play a big role in perpetuating violence further. TV shows and movies often depict young women according to social norms and expectations - very polite, patient, and obedient, serving not only the husband, but his whole family. Mothers-in-law, on the other hand, are shown as cruel, manipulative, and bitter. Saida Rametova , an Honored Artist of Uzbekistan, is in particular famous for her roles as "monster-in-law" in movies such as " Super Kelinchak " (Super Daughter-in-Law), " Supper Qaynona ," (super mother-in-law), and " Onam Bilmasin " (Don't Let My Mother Know). Movies such as " Begona Bahor " (Alien Spring) and many others show how couples end up in miserable divorce because of the cruel treatment of mothers-in-law and negligent behavior of young husbands. While these movies are a reflection of reality, they also "inspire" men and mothers-in-law to be more evil, normalizing the abuse of young brides.

Islam has become another "tool" for many elderly to manipulate the youth. Dissatisfied with a kelin's service, many parents demand their son to either talaq (divorce) the wife or be disowned. Imams both in mosques and on internet platforms have stressed that this way of disowning is not according to Islam, but the practice continues. While many prominent imams warn against treating kelins as " ," others call on kelins to serve their in-laws properly for " this is how your son's wife will treat you later ."

The power dynamics are changing, especially in urban areas. Youth are becoming more independent and the internet has exposed them to different social realities. Activists run emancipating social media accounts such as " " (Don't be silent) - an independent information project against gender-based violence in Uzbekistan. The impact is huge. Yet in parts of Uzbek society, where suffocating social norms raise future abusing husbands and monstrous mothers-in-law, violence is perpetuated.

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A Cycle of Perpetual Violence for the Women of Uzbekistan

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Advertisement Earlier this month an Uzbek groom hitting his new bride in the head at their wedding reception because he lost a game made international .

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Women in Iran are burning their hijabs - here's why 

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Women in Iran are burning their hijabs - here's why 

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Iranian women burning their hijabs are striking at the Islamic Republic’s brand

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The hijab, which was forced on all Iranian women after the 1979 revolution, is a tool of oppression.

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The disappearing nations: A Photo Essay about some of the islands in the Pacific.

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The disappearing nations: A Photo Essay about some of the islands in the Pacific.

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https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2021/05/11/these-are-the-disappearing-nations/

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The project, Warm Waters, now covers 18 territories, stretching from Point Barrow, the northernmost tip of Alaska, to the South Pacific islands of Niue and Tokelau. Some of the places photographed have changed a lot in eight years, some will never recover, and some may be lost entirely.

In his words, "The Earth is indestructible, but it responds in measures to how we treat it."

Kiribati, where this Photo Essay begins, is a tiny Pacific island nation and is critically threatened by sea level rises, coastal erosion, soil salinisation and extreme weather events. The government is looking for a place to relocate the entire nation if the country disappears under the sea. Some individuals, however, have taken matters into their own hands by seeking "climate refugee" status in countries like New Zealand.

Peia Kararaua, 16, swims in the flooded area of Aberao village that is located in Tarawa atoll, Kiribati. The island nation is one of the countries which is most affected by sea level rise. Many villages become inundated during high tides, making large parts of them uninhabitable.

Teafua Tanu islet on Kiribati, above, has been used by residents of Fakaofo as a Catholic cemetery.

Fast-swimming youths rush to get fish, off South Tarawa in Kiribati.

Above, Hetu, aged eight, lifts up a shark that was caught by local fishermen for "inati" in Fale Island, Fakaofo Atoll, Tokelau.

Inati is a traditional and a very unique community fishing and distribution system that is practised in Tokelau. The system ensures that all families have some fish. All men are required to take part in a fishing activity. The catch is shared equally among people; all family members are counted, and the sharing depends on the number of people in households.

Teresa, aged seven, brought her three-year-old sister Terada, to the lagoon water to play in the water. "When it's a high tide, the kids usually play near our house, and the whole area gets flooded. They don't need to walk to the sea," says their mother. "For me, it's not that enjoyable, as we had to move our garden further inland of the island, for the sea water not to destroy our crops and taro."

The government calls Tebunginako village in Abaiang atoll "a barometer for what Kiribati can expect in the future". Since the 1970s, the villagers have seen the sea rise. Eventually, the erosion was so great that the major part of the village had to be abandoned.

Eliuda Toxok, a shark caller from Messi village, paddles his outrigger canoe in Bismarck Sea while trying to catch a shark. Shark calling is the ancient tradition among the fishermen of New Ireland. Locals say that they see fewer sharks every year, and connect the decline with climate change.

Martha Wokma stands with her nephew near a collapsed logging bridge. "We can't take this road anymore. We can't visit our relatives in friends in other villages," she says. "The logging company made big damage to our village and environment and they never payed any compensation."

Above left, Dwain, aged 13, holds a bat shot by his grandfather. Bats, normally a delicacy, are a main meal for some villagers on the island of Niue.

Above right, a logging area near Trin village, Turubu inland.

A boy stands on a sea wall, made from logs to keep out the water, in the Marshall Islands.

Above left, Nobert Mor, aged 13, sits on the dead tree while village kids play on the shore.

Right, in Taul village, locals travel in the back of a pickup truck on the logging road in Turubu inland area.

Mark Pokakes, aged 41 and wearing the shirt of Australia's rugby league team, stands near his house in Pamachau Island in Manus Province of Papua New Guinea.

Pamachau was affected by the king tide that hit the island in 2012. Many houses were damaged by the seawater and a few of them even collapsed. This remote island accommodates just 40 people and their only fresh water comes from rain.

Above left, Tietaake, aged three, sits on a raft that is used to transport residents of Eita village through the flooded areas during high tides.

Children of Etas village on Efate Island watch a water truck delivering drinking water to their village. After Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in March 2015, many local communities were left without fresh water supplies. International charity Oxfam organised an airport water tank truck to come to the villages around Port Vila and help locals to fill their barrels with drinking water.

Children play on a sea wall in front of a rusty shipwreck in Betio town, South Tarawa, Kiribati. The ship was lifted by king tides and crashed into a sea wall in February 2015.

Debris left after Cyclone Winston. The southern part of Taveuni Island in Fiji was among the areas most affected by the Category 5 cyclone in March 2016. Many villages were completely destroyed and people were left without food for several days, as access to the island was cut off.

Salome, aged six, skip jumps over high-voltage wires in Veicorocoro Settlement, Tailevu Province. After Cyclone Winston hit Fiji in February 2016, there was no power for many weeks in affected areas.

A girl passes the shipwreck in Betio town, South Tarawa, Kiribati, that had been lifted by king tides and crashed into a sea wall in February 2015.

Elva, aged ten, sits on a dead coconut tree near Tina River in Niu Birao village, Solomon Islands. Elva's family house once stood on the place where the river now flows. In April 2014, the house was one of 21 washed away by a flood along. Many families lost their homes and gardens; some still live in tents. Some children have stopped going to school because their parents no longer have money to pay school fees.

Above left, children play the "cemetery" game on a sandy beach on Ebeye in the Marshall Islands. The overpopulated island is informally known as the "slum of the Pacific". Disease is a problem for its people, and the mortality rate is one of the highest in the country.
All photographs by Vlad Sokhin/Panos Pictures

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These are the disappearing nations - Tortoise

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The project, Warm Waters, now covers 18 territories, stretching from Point Barrow, the northernmost tip of Alaska, to the South Pacific islands of Niue and Tokelau. Some of the places photographed have changed a lot in eight years, some will never recover, and some may be lost entirely.

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How the state is forcing the most vulnerable into the hands of loan sharks

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How the state is forcing the most vulnerable into the hands of loan sharks

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https://gal-dem.com/vulnerable-cost-of-living-loan-sharks-debt/

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I was walking down the street when I suddenly bumped into an old friend. We both screamed in the streets, ecstatic as we haven't seen each other in years.

"Ohmygodohmygod! HOW ARE YOU?"

Long rambles spilled out of us as we unraveled our lives in the middle of the street. I began to tell her about every minor inconvenience that happened since I last saw her and she naturally did the same.

While we continued squealing, an auntie passed by and glanced over at us, as they usually do. My friend immediately stops talking and leans in closer, grumbling under her breath,

"Let's go somewhere more private. I don't want no judgemental bitchy auntie eavesdropping on us."

She continued talking but as we both went our separate ways, I couldn't help but think about what she said. Judgemental bitchy auntie. For some reason, those words didn't sit well with me. But at the same time, I found myself also agreeing. I brushed it off, unsettling feelings withering away as the day went on. If she said the same comment months earlier, I probably would've shared the same sentiment. But that day, I wasn't so sure.

The next day, my mom and I went to a family friend's picnic in Queens. I wondered if I could weasel my way out of it with a lame excuse as binge-watching Jane The Virgin for the millionth time seemed like a much better way to spend my Saturday.
Ma, my stomach hurts. Ma, I have so much work to catch up on. Ma, I have plans. Ma, I have to save the world from getting hit by a galactic meteorite.
I tried explaining to my mom how I just didn't want my day being subjected to aunties judging me. I stared at the reflection of my mirror, my stomach gorging out of my salwar kameez and my acne under my caked makeup, suddenly feeling like a court jester to entertain the aunties. But alas, I decided to go, begrudgingly.

We arrived and found myself hours later not wanting to go home. Us women, a variety of all ages, sat comfortably on picnic blankets under trees. I sat quietly, listening to aunties I knew from afar open up about their immigration journey, how they too were judged by others and even were vulnerable in sharing their mental health issues. I consumed everything that was told that day as their words were soaked with wisdom. Quietly observing Each time they took a shaky breath and sipped on their chai from styrofoam cups when their throat got dry. I keenly listened to the women with loud cackles as it seemed as though they were waiting to talk their entire life and even the shy ones whose gentle giggles hid behind their palms. The day was filled with their vibrancy and I felt taken by it.

But most of all, I quietly listened to my mother who I've come to see another side of her. A side that is not necessarily my mother, but rather a woman. Her true essence was hidden inside under the layers of motherly nurturing. I wonder if she hid it purposely. Or did the layers somehow take their form without her even noticing, suffocating her spirit as the years passed? I wonder.

Over time, I noticed that she forgot I was by her side, making raunchy jokes and opening up about her pain when her brothers died. As the day went on, I too felt her being surprised at herself as her eyes shifted every time she said something, suddenly looking over at me with a sense of shame. I could hear her thoughts from across the picnic blanket, "My child is here. I shouldn't act like this. I'm a mother. Get it together." But then she heard a funny joke and surrendered.

As I watched her, I felt myself stir with emotions from sadness knowing she couldn't let herself be like this with me. Then overwhelming guilt kicked in wondering if perhaps somewhere along the way, she lost this part of herself when motherhood took over. But as the day went on and I watched her giggle and run from one auntie to another like a child at a playground, a sense of pride and admiration washed over.

We ended the day by having an elderly auntie, who was an ayurvedic and homeopathy instructor back in Bangladesh, lead a meditation session. She sat on a chair looking down at us as all of us sat on a picnic blanket. We did everything from breathing techniques to even laughing therapy where we all shamelessly manically laughed together in unison as strangers at the park staring at us from afar. A group of Bangladeshi women draped with shiny and glimmery sarees on a hot summer day, howling. But we didn't have a care in the world. Because we were doing it together.

We drove back home, laughter continued in the tiny car as we sped through highways. When I got home, I slept with the echoes of their laughter and stories running through me.

Over the course of the next few days, I've thought extensively about why I felt so uncomfortable going to the family gathering. After years of passive comments, I've grown accustomed to recoiling when I saw an auntie, a natural instinct to run and hide. As if an alarm went off inside my body notifying me that I was no longer safe.

Thoughts swarmed in my mind of past conversations my friends and I had about our sadness being brown girls, the oppressive surveillance we are forced under, and how gossiping in our communities is destroying us. But soon, I finally understood how the conversation never went above that. Instead, the discussion pertaining to judgemental aunties and gossip has morphed into something far beyond its origin. While it is rightly justified to discuss the tyrannical hardships the younger generation of brown women has to face, I've come to realize that this topic has come to transmute into more harmful complexities. Ultimately, we have encouraged the villainization of aunties and even formed caricatures.

Aunties are now depicted with bindis as big as their forehead stamped between their eyes, thick black kajol smeared across their eyelids over their blue ashy eyeshadow, vibrant fuschia paint lined tightly around their pursed lips, protruding belly tucked under their sarees, a nod to fatphobia.

South Asian Millenials and Gen-Z creators even made millions off of creating their brands depicting aunties as villains. A walking villain looming over innocent brown girls. Us, young brown girls, vs. them, brown aunties. It now exists as a niche subgenre.

The word "auntie" itself weighs a label. It is not simply the definition of an older neighbor or a family friend. It carries heavy negative connotations of a nagging, nosy, and bothersome woman, waiting at every corner to infiltrate our lives. There is no room made to view aunties as people with depth and intricacies. As if because they are women decades older than us, there is no willingness to see them as multitudes. We refuse to see them as a woman with a past, a present, and a future. A woman with conflicting feelings, dead dreams, erotic pleasures, small delights, unrequited love, unfulfilled yearning, and more and more and more. But instead, a one-dimensional person who exists to destroy us and nothing more. The over-generalization of aunties itself is harmful as it instigates the grouping of aunties vs. Millenial/Gen-Z brown women which ultimately furthers division within our community.

However, that is to say, there is truth to the villainization of aunties and the justification is valid (albeit surfaced level as we refuse to recognize its nuanced layers and dig deeper). We cannot ignore the obvious hierarchy and power play that exists. One can also say that it is the aunties' doing of disrupting unity within the community. Because how can the younger generation stand in solidarity with aunties if we are in constant fear?

Hierarchy within the community prevails as aunties hold power over brown girls by putting us under surveillance, their lethal tongues acting as a violent weapon that can ruin a girl's life in seconds. Reputation is the shred of existence for women. One's reputation itself is autonomy, and therefore power even if it is minimal. So when an auntie ruins her reputation, it means snatching away her potential, imprisoning her, and banishing her entire nuclear family from the rest of the community. Because of course, a girl is not her own, she is an extension of her family. If she falls, so does the rest of the family. Gossiping is never just an explosive attack on the individual but burns everyone around them.

Gossiping usually erupts when a girl does something that is against our traditions, which means it was reprehensible. The gossip itself is a way to shame us and restrain us from straying away from our culture and feminity. When our elders warns us about not "slipping up" so people wouldn't talk about us, it uses gossip as a fear-mongering tool to keep us in check. To maintain modesty and uphold archaic perceptions of what it means to be a "good South Asian woman" living in the cauldron of sin that is western society.

But when examining who exactly is "keeping us in check" and invented the notable rules of "feminine modesty", it is not the aunties that created the agenda, but the uncles. Uncles have always been the ones that surveillenced us, but somewhere along the way, aunties have become messangers. Are they just as misogynistic as uncles in our community? Or are they also victims of the surveillance that they too have become the surveillancer? It is easy to slander aunties as scapegoats of judgment and gossip when uncles also play a role in this. In fact, they invented it.

Gossip is a way aunties uphold their power in our communities, instigating direct harm. I wonder, do aunties gain gratification from policing younger brown women? Or is it deeper than that?

While violence is perpetrated by aunties through the act of gossiping and judgment, I believe it is important to examine the complex layers of gossiping. It is already given that gossiping kills. But what if it also helps to live? To survive?

Whether we like to admit it or not, everyone gossips and makes judgments. The embarrassing truth is that we all secretly enjoy doing it. From bonding with a mutual on Twitter being haters or hearing how a girl in our neighborhood has 2 boyfriends, or even loathing a rando with our bestie. Many of my friendships started by finding out that both of us disliked the same person. This seems awful when admitted out loud, but nothing ties people more together than prying and sharing the latest news to escape our own lives.

According to , "The origins of gossip can be traced at multiple levels: evolutionary, cultural and developmental. While some forms of gossip are almost certainly negative or superfluous, others seem to serve a beneficial social role: Gossip can help solidify personal relationships and encourage cooperation."

Gossiping continues human evolution but it also has become a vital way in forming community. A necessary linguistic act in maintaining human connection. It has always been a tool to fit in and find common ground. Needless to say, while everyone does gossip, it is what we choose to do with the gossip that depicts if it's simply a harmless conversation or our intention to inflict harm.

I think about South Asian aunties that immigrated to America with nothing and had to start their lives from scratch. As most of the aunties in the Bangladeshi community immigrated to America during the '90s or early 2000s, they had no accessibility to long-distance phone calls as we have now which meant being forced to cut ties with friends and family they've known their entire lives, thus erasing the only community they knew. Along with restarting their lives in a strange new country with a culture that plays a juxtaposition to theirs, they also had to find community and allies.

As they immigrated to a new country, now existing under the realm of white supremacist capitalism post 9/11, the only way they knew how to survive was by adapting and succumbing to a wolf pack mindset. Survival of the fittest. Similarly to people I know and including myself, they too found common ground with other aunties by expressing their dislike of others in the community. I imagine aunties that arrived in America, an unfamiliar nation with unusual customs, analyzing the land around them. Alas, a survival tactic available to them that they can cling onto: gossiping. While I am not saying it is justified and that gossiping is the only way to survive, I think of how oftentimes we project harm when surviving. Is there a "right" or "wrong" way to survive? I suppose there aren't many options when it comes to our survivalhood.

And so, is gossiping and judging simply a power trip for aunties? Or is their own flawed way of taking back control in a country they're victims in? Perhaps all of these things can coexist together.

I think back to the villainization of aunties and my friend's words "judgemental bitchy auntie". While slandering aunties feels shallow and warrants harm, I wonder if maybe this is our own way of trying to take back control and fight back. Are we all, the younger generation of South Asian women and aunties, just trying to scavenge crumbles of control? To reclaim the little autonomy we all have? Even if it's through harm?

When examining the oppressive role aunties leans into and who ends up being the victim of gossiping, we would immediately assume it would be someone that is part of the younger generation of brown women (millenials and gen-z). But we often forget how fellow aunties, that are oftentimes also in the age group of the said judgemental aunties, are also victims of gossip as well.

A couple of days ago, I met with a close friend about my thoughts. To my surprise, she responded by talking about how her mother doesn't really have a social life, and when she does go out for pleasure, it is usually a family outing.

"Actually...I don't think she has any friends. I think she's scared of being judged," she said. "Judged by other aunties."

The caricature we built of the "judgemental bitchy auntie" made us forget about aunties like my friend's mother. Many of the aunties in our communities are housewives, their proximity to society or the outside world are through their husband and children. I thought of my friend's mother, who I haven't had much conversation with besides "how are you". How like so many others, she too refused to leave the house out of fear and judgment. Ultimately living in isolation from racist America that ignores them and alienation from other aunties.

The judgment between aunties also holds vast complexities. From geographic elitism (aunties that grew up in middle-class cities vs. aunties that grew up in poverty in rural villages), classism, colorism (because aunties are also victims of colorism too), casteism, and so much more.

It is easier to believe that it is us, the younger generation of brown girls, against "judgemental aunties", but the truth is that the ratio between the gossiping aunties and aunties that hide at home out of fear of them is damning. But even then, there still lies complexities within the ratio itself. Complexities that go deeper into the ocean.

The only time we think of the aunties (vulnerable helpless housewives, perhaps another character we developed) that exist as shadows of our world is when we garner academic conversation of intersectional feminism, and neoliberal representation, and to prove that we support "all women". But it is tragic to see how the language suddenly shifts from "auntie" to "immigrant women" when we wish to. How it is "immigrant women" when talking to our white counterparts or angry Instagram rants about equality but suddenly "auntie" when we desire to slander them.

Perhaps this goes to show the wavering truth aunties hold. From being a victimized minority in white America to a daunting bully to a wife and mother with dead fantasies. All of these things breathing together simultaneously.

While aunties in our community have power over the younger generation through surveillance, it is important to take a step back by expanding the scale and analyze this said power. Largening scale from the 5-block width of our neighborhood to American society as a whole. The truth is, the young generation of brown women has the ability to step into an entirely new world by simply getting on a train to a new neighborhood while aunties are not able to.

In our workplace, college, even restaurants in the city, and more, we have the privldege of being part of the greater American society and engaging in multiple communities. We are able to temporarily escape being subjected to their judgment. Many of us will move away from the communities we grew up in, making the escape permanent.

However, the aunties we grew up with cannot. Between the unfamiliar culture of western society and its blaring differences to language efficiency, they cannot afford to escape their neighborhood, no matter how small it may seem in comparison to the rest of the world. The community is their world. So, in some way, do we have power over them? The power being our proximity to Americanness?

Frankly speaking, the chastisement between aunties can be far worse than the torment the younger generation faces, as isolation can be just as violent. However, it also begs the question if one can measure harm. Who loses the most when it comes to gossip culture and judgment? Who hurts more? Who harms more?

I do not have all the answers to these interrogations, and I'm sure neither do our aunties.

But I pose the question, who is truly the victim? Who is the villain? Us? Or them?

Perhaps I can start the conversation by asking aunties how their day was. What their dead dreams are, what do they find delights in the smallness of things, have they experienced unrequited love, their unfulfilled yearning, and more and more and more? Maybe I will find the answers then. Or maybe not. But maybe then we can understand each other.

The conversation will continue to unravel and spiral. As it is bigger than all of us.
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The Villainization of Aunties: judgemental south asian aunties are milfs, gossiping is praxis in building community, and who truly is the victim?

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I was walking down the street when I suddenly bumped into an old friend. We both screamed in the streets, ecstatic as we haven't seen each other in years. "Ohmygodohmygod! HOW ARE YOU?" Long rambles spilled out of us as we unraveled our lives in the middle of the street.

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A heart-warming celebration of Muslim motherhood

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A heart-warming celebration of Muslim motherhood

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https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2020/07/06/the-reckoning-death-at-the-ministry/

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For Emanuel Gomes, the most striking thing about the coronavirus lockdown was that it never existed. “From this evening, I must give the British people a very simple instruction: you must stay at home,” Boris Johnson told the nation on the evening of 23 March, as he declared a national emergency and…

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If you have any questions or need help, let us know at memberhelp@tortoisemedia.com

A Tortoise File

How many women are killed - but not counted?

Why this story?

In the UK, we're told that two women a week are killed by a current or former partner. But these are just the killings we know about... the true toll of domestic abuse could be far higher. In this investigation, we examine cases of killers missed, of a body left to decay in a morgue, and of systemic police failings. We reveal how poorly police forces are tracking these sudden deaths, and we ask: how is it that no one knows how many women, known to be suffering from abuse, are dying? In Hidden Homicides, we illuminate a scandal hidden from view, and we invite you to join us to push for real change. Basia Cummings, Editor

Episode 1

Hidden in plain sight

Further reading

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Hello. It looks like youre using an ad blocker that may prevent our website from working properly. To receive the best Tortoise experience possible, please make sure any blockers are switched off and refresh the page. If you have any questions or need help, let us know at memberhelp@tortoisemedia.com A Tortoise File How many women are killed - but not counted?

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Borat 2 movie exposing US Republican politician Rudy Giuliani in staged interview scene

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Borat 2 movie exposing US Republican politician Rudy Giuliani in staged interview scene

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'Toxic culture' of abuse at mental health hospital revealed by BBC secret filming

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'Toxic culture' of abuse at mental health hospital revealed by BBC secret filming

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Humiliated, abused and isolated for weeks - patients were put at risk due to a "toxic culture" at one of the UK's biggest mental health hospitals, BBC Panorama can reveal.

An undercover reporter at the Edenfield Centre filmed staff using restraint inappropriately and patients enduring long seclusions in small, bare rooms.

Staff swore at patients and were seen slapping or pinching them on occasion.

Hospital bosses said they have taken immediate action to protect patients.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the medium secure unit, said it was taking the allegations "very seriously".

A number of staff members have been suspended, and the trust said it was working with Greater Manchester Police, the independent healthcare regulator the Care Quality Commission, and NHS England "to ensure the safety of these services".

Greater Manchester Police said it has opened a criminal investigation.

The BBC's undercover reporter, Alan Haslam, spent three months as a support worker inside the Edenfield Centre in Prestwich, near Manchester.

With capacity for more than 150 patients, it is intended to care for people held under the Mental Health Act who are at serious risk of harming themselves or others, including some patients from the criminal justice system.

Whistleblowers had made allegations about poor staff behaviour and patient safety at the hospital.

Wearing a hidden camera, the reporter saw:

Staff swearing at patients, taunting and mocking them in vulnerable situations - such as when they were undressing - and joking about their self-harm

Patients being unnecessarily restrained - according to experts who reviewed the footage - as well as being slapped or pinched by staff on some occasions

Some female staff acting in a sexualised way towards male patients

10 patients being held in small seclusion rooms - designed for short-term isolation to prevent immediate harm - for days, weeks or even months, with only brief breaks

Patient observations, a crucial safety measure, being regularly missed and records falsified

Dr Cleo Van Velsen, a consultant psychiatrist, said the BBC's footage showed a "toxic culture" among staff of "corruption, perversion, aggression, hostility, lack of boundaries", which was undermining patient recovery.

Prof John Baker, an expert in mental health nursing at the University of Leeds, said: "It doesn't feel safe. You're quite clearly seeing toxic staff. There's an awful lot of hostility towards patients across all of the wards, which is really concerning."

Warning: This story contains repeated use of highly offensive language

Claire - not her real name - has a history of self-harm and was filmed being humiliated by a female support worker for needing help with going to the toilet.

The staff member complained to her face about "having to look at your arsehole where biohazard fucking waste comes out".

In a sign that boundaries between patients and staff had broken down, on another occasion Claire sat on the lap of the same support worker, who said: "If you fart I will actually kill you." The support worker then pulled aside the patient's clothing and repeatedly slapped her bare skin.

A senior nurse was among those who watched, laughed and jeered as Claire was slapped. Most of the time nurses are in charge of the wards.

One nurse was filmed refusing to check on a crying patient named Olivia, who self-harms and has repeatedly tried to kill herself. The BBC is only identifying patients where they and their families have given consent.

Staff members laughed and joked that Olivia was "only crying" and "if she slit her throat you'd know it" because "she'd tell everybody about it".

When talking to patients about their bodies, staff used demeaning language, often passing it off as a joke. But patients told the undercover reporter they felt bullied and dehumanised.

Olivia said staff had called her a "fat cunt", before claiming they had been joking. The 22-year-old's mother said Olivia had in the past stopped eating and drinking because she believed she was overweight. "It's not funny, it's not a joke," Olivia said.

Another time, when Claire was due for a weekly injection, she hid her head under a blanket. Support workers and the senior nurse with them did not try to persuade her to comply, but instead were filmed dragging her by the wrist from a chair and into a room down the corridor.

One of the support workers mocked Claire again as staff held her down on a bed and exposed her body for the needle, saying "as if we'd choose to see your arse" and calling her a "cheeky bitch" as she protested.

After giving the injection, the staff locked Claire in the room, telling her they would keep her there for an hour as they laughed at her through the glass in the door - before letting her out a few moments later.

Dr Van Velsen said the members of staff acted "like a gang, not a group of health care professionals". "It's against any policy I've ever seen about restraint in doing this," she said.

The code of practice for mental health workers says restraint and other "restrictive interventions" should only be used to take control of dangerous situations and stop anyone being hurt - not for punishment.

A BBC Panorama undercover investigation has found evidence that a secure NHS psychiatric hospital is failing to protect some of its vulnerable patients.

But the BBC filmed one patient being restrained after hospital managers said she had been shouting and verbally abusive.

Harley, a 23-year-old autistic woman who was at Edenfield due to self-harm, was sitting on the floor when at least eight members of staff picked her up and dragged her away, screaming.

Harley was being restrained to take her back into seclusion, where she had already spent more than two weeks.

At one point a nurse was filmed saying staff wanted her kept in seclusion because they "need a break from her".

Reviewing footage of the incident, Dr Van Velsen said: "You cannot deprive somebody of their liberties because staff are fed up of her."

Patients are only supposed to be confined to one room and isolated from others for short periods when there is an "immediate necessity" because they are likely to harm other people. It should not be used as a punishment or threat, or because of staff shortages, guidelines say.

Staff told the BBC's undercover reporter that Alice (not her real name), a patient who had attacked staff, had been in seclusion for more than a year.

Guidelines for psychiatric hospitals say they can keep patients segregated for long periods to protect others on the wards. But the hospital must have the approval of a team of experts, consult the patient's family where possible and give the patient additional space, including access to an outside area.

Edenfield's seclusion rooms are small, with a bed, shower and toilet, all of which can be observed by staff from an adjoining room. Some have mould, peeling paint, a smell of sewage and windows that don't open.

During one 30-minute break from seclusion, Alice asked for her blanket and teddy bears, comforts which she had been allowed before her isolation began. A support worker refused, saying: "You're lucky you've not got a straw fucking bed in there. I'd give you a straw bed like cows have to sleep on."

On another occasion, staff were filmed trying to give Alice her anti-psychotic medication Clozapine twice, because of an apparent breakdown in communication.

Asked what would happen if she had too much of the drug, a nurse said: "She'd probably just die."

While the majority of patients filmed being mistreated by staff were women who had been sectioned and had self-harmed, some patients held in Edenfield have been convicted of violent crimes.

Experts said staff showed a worrying lack of boundaries even with these patients.

One patient, a man serving a life sentence for murder, was filmed writhing on the floor and on a bed as a female support worker grappled with him and tickled him.

Afterwards, she said: "You get away with murder here, don't we? Can you imagine if I got caught by bosses?"

A different female support worker was filmed dancing up against another male patient.

"As well as making herself vulnerable she's also increasing the vulnerability of the patients," Dr Van Velsen said. "The one thing you should not do with patients is have a kind of sexualised relationship with them."

Vulnerable female patients were also seen being mistreated by male staff. A male support worker taunted a woman with a history of self-harm as she undressed, saying he would turn his back because "I don't want to be mentally scarred again".

The support worker was also filmed pinching her twice, the second time while bending her arm backwards.

"It's an assault," said Dr Van Velsen when she viewed the footage.

Among the staff's most important duties are patient observations, or "obs". These are checks to ensure patients are safe, made every 15 minutes - or more frequently for patients at higher risk.

Records of the observations affect decisions about care and can show that patients were being properly looked after, in the event that they hurt themselves or anyone else.

Observations were frequently missed or carried out poorly. A nurse was filmed telling a support worker to falsify the records. "Here, sign some of these things, say you've done them," he said.

He also asked the reporter to join in the falsification. "Want to pretend you were doing obs?" he asked.

Hospital employees complained of understaffing and burnout. Sometimes support workers were left on their own, with no nurse on the ward.

There was a shortage of nurses for adult secure wards on 58 occasions during one five-week period, according to records from the trust which runs Edenfield, seen by Panorama.

Prof Baker said there should never be a shift without a registered nurse on the ward, but added that recruitment problems in mental health care were "no excuse for the abuse we've been seeing in the footage".

Information and support

If you are experiencing issues with mental health or self-harm, details of help and support are available here.

Seven members of staff were seen sleeping on shift by the BBC's undercover reporter. One nurse went to sleep outside in the sun for about an hour while on duty, in full view of other staff and patients.

The BBC has reported the findings of its undercover investigation to hospital management and the Care Quality Commission.

Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust said senior doctors have undertaken clinical reviews of the patients affected and it had also commissioned an independent clinical review of services at the Edenfield Centre.

"We owe it to our patients, their families and carers, the public and our staff that these allegations are fully investigated to ensure we provide the best care, every day, for all the communities we serve," the trust said.

The Care Quality Commission, which had previously rated the Edenfield centre as "good", says that rating is "currently suspended" and it is "reviewing the information" provided by Panorama.

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'Toxic culture' of abuse at mental health hospital revealed by BBC secret filming

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BBC Panorama goes undercover and finds patients being humiliated, verbally abused and bullied by staff.

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A Debate on Gaza: Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada vs. J.J. Goldberg of the Jewish Daily Forward

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A Debate on Gaza: Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada vs. J.J. Goldberg of the Jewish Daily Forward

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A Debate on Gaza: Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada vs. J.J. Goldberg of the Jewish Daily Forward

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The indigenous Mexican actor Yalitza Aparicio has made history by appearing on the cover of Vogue Mexico, in a first for a country where light-skinned people dominate the media landscape - despite an overwhelmingly mestizo and indigenous population.

Aparicio, who has won acclaim for her debut performance in Alfonso Cuarón's new film Roma, wears a Gucci dress on the magazine's December edition, next to the title "In tiu'n ntav'i" - "A star is born" - in the indigenous Mixtec language.

In a video released by Vogue, Aparicio, a preschool teacher from Oaxaca state, said: "Certain stereotypes are being broken: that only people with a certain profile can be actresses or be on the cover of magazines.

"Other faces of Mexico are now being recognized. It is something that makes me happy and proud of my roots."

Her appearance on the cover of the magazine's Mexico and Latin America edition was hailed by indigenous women. "I saw it and wow! It was very powerful. Just like she did, others will say: 'We can do it,'" said Esther Poot, 24, an indigenous Maya activist and preschool teacher in south-eastern Quintana Roo state.

"We can continue raising our voices and say 'yes', as indigenous women we can go on television and come out in movies or appear on the cover a magazine. It's exciting, but also motivating," she said.

La vida de esta oaxaqueña pasó de la discreción de su hogar en Tlaxiaco a las pantallas del cine. Apartada de los reflectores, damos eco a la voz de una mujer tan genuina que es capaz de opacar a las mismas estrellas: Yalitza Aparicio. #YalitzaEnVogueMx #Vogue20 pic.twitter.com/94WVD10f4i
- Vogue Mex y Latam (@VogueMexico) December 17, 2018

Mexico portrays its pre-Hispanic history in heroic terms, while demonizing Spanish conquistadors such as Hernán Cortés, but modern day indigenous peoples are portrayed less glowingly - if they are portrayed at all.

Indigenous Mexicans comprise 15% of the population but are often marginalized from public life and politics, and many live in poverty.

Aparicio's magazine appearance comes shortly after the country swore in a new government led by populist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has promised to put a priority on indigenous issues.

"Some media outlets are getting that sensibilities in Mexico are changing," Federico Navarrete, author of the Alphabet of Mexican Racism,told El País. "It's incredible that in 2019, 80% of the population of Mexico - those who look like Yalitza Aparicio - are not represented in the Mexican press."

A survey by BuzzFeed Mexico showed the vast majority of people featured in Mexican magazines were white - with some publications having just 2% of its photos showing mestizo or indigenous people.

Skeptics noted that Aparicio appeared in the US edition of Vanity Fair before Vogue Mexico put her on its cover, while some online reaction to her cover has been explicitly racist.

"It shouldn't be so surprising, but it is and that's because of the racism we experience in the country and the exclusion of indigenous people historically," said Betina Cruz Velázquez, a leader of the Binnizá community in the Isthmus region of southern Oaxaca state.

"The whole idea that indigenous people are not attached to western ideas or western beauty stereotypes causes people to be surprised that an indigenous woman can use an expensive dress and be on a magazine cover that isn't targeting indigenous people."

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'We can do it': Yalitza Aparicio's Vogue cover hailed by indigenous women

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The indigenous Mexican actor Yalitza Aparicio has made history by appearing on the cover of Vogue Mexico, in a first for a country where light-skinned people dominate the media landscape - despite an overwhelmingly mestizo and indigenous population.