Last month, 23-year-old German student-teacher Tuğçe Albayrak stepped between two women and a man who was harassing them. He punched her in the face. The blow was fatal. After two weeks in a coma, Albayrak died on Nov. 28. Albayrak’s death was mourned with vigils in cities across Germany and has implications for the conversation about violence against women.
Dr. Chloe Angyal, co-editor of Feministing.com, told HuffPost Live's Caroline Modaressay-Tehrani that Albayrak’s death represents an extreme aspect of the "spectrum" of violent threats that women face daily.
“The cost of speaking out in favor of women’s equality, in favor of an end of violence against women, depending on how you decide to speak out and what kind of a personal risk you take -- the consequences can be very, very dire, and in this case, it was deadly," she said.
Political comedian and writer Katie Halper agreed and expounded upon the way verbal harassment is connected to physical violence towards women.
“The notion that this woman was punished and killed for daring to attempt to stop men from harassing other women is just so scary,” Halper said.
Rachel Sklar, co-founder of Change the Radio, explained that it’s difficult to immediately find a after such a tragedy, but she hopes the outcry following Albayrak’s death could spur change.
“[This] leads to pressure on people of authority and leads to media pressure and puts a spotlight on people of power to do something,” said Sklar. “And that includes repercussions for the perpetrators -- harsh repercussions.”
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