There is a troubling pattern emerging among today’s youth: the increasing tendency to interpret societal tragedies through a divisive, gendered lens. This shift distorts the essence of human suffering, and threatens the unity that is essential for meaningful social progress.
In recent incidents, public discourse has often fixated disproportionately on one gender, sidelining the other entirely. Instead of mourning the loss collectively, we witness grief being politicised — transformed into a battleground riddled with blame and bias.
While gender-based violence demands urgent attention, we must also recognise that not every man is a ‘threat’, and not every woman is a ‘victim’. Tragedies should be acknowledged as human losses, not reduced to binary narratives.
This mindset risks fragmenting our youth, widening generational gaps, eroding trust between genders, and weakening the solidarity needed to confront larger societal challenges. If empathy is filtered through bias, justice itself becomes selective.
The younger generation must be encouraged to rise above polarisation, and embrace a more humane, inclusive outlook. Social movements should be built on shared values, compassion and collective responsibility, not opposition. Media and influencers bear a rather critical respon- sibility to promote balanced narratives.
RIMSHA MASOOD
RAWALPINDI
