Social media cringed collectively on Tuesday at Anna Linda Eden’s Facebook post, in which she shared videos of husband and Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden and their flooded home with a caption that said, “Fate is like rape, if it cannot be resisted, it must be enjoyed.”
When the post came under attack from various quarters for its insensitivity on various counts, she deleted the post and apologised.
In torrential rainfall in the city till Monday morning, the Edens’s house witnessed severe waterlogging and their porch, cars and ground floor were submerged.
Ms. Eden, who was a television anchor and worked at a radio station, shared a video on Monday night of her daughter and some belongings being taken to higher ground in a rescue boat.
Ms. Eden later acknowledged that her comments might have hurt women who have been through devastating experiences and that she did not mean to cause any harm. “As the wife of a representative of the people, I have always tried to understand the problems of the people and empathise,” she wrote.
Though the original post was deleted after it drew a good deal of flak, users shared screenshots and pulled it apart on multiple counts.
Several users demanded an apology from Ms. Eden for an insensitive comparison between the floods and rape. Others pointed out that the continued use of rape jokes trivialised the issue and provided an insight into a sickening mentality.
