Life as a Child of Intimate Partner Violence

By Leila (Content Warning for Partner Violence and descriptions of abuse) When I scroll through social media and see friends dedicating a post to their parents celebrating their 25th or 30th wedding anniversary, I can’t help but wonder how that would feel like. Neither can I relate to girls saying they hope to end up…

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“No Mother Would Leave Her Own Children Unless It Was past Every Point of Desperation.”

by Sue _ (content warning: partner violence & marital rape) When people think of domestic abuse, they usually think of its most explicit manifestations. It’s physical. It’s loud. There’s glass breaking, slaps landing, and eyes turning blue from a bruise. It is, in a word, dramatic. The kind we see in TV dramas, movies, and…

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Editor’s Letter: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) & Domestic Abuse

by Diana Rahim _ (Content Warning for Partner Violence and descriptions of abuse) Reading the submissions for the call-out on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has been the most affecting experience for me so far in editing Beyond The Hijab. The stories shared are heartbreaking, not just because of what these women have experienced, but how…

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Dua Kalimah Syahadah

by Irie _ i have been crying about dying and not-dying, all at the same time, keenly aware my consciousness will not be liberated: left to float in space. left to float in the void. left to float on and on, long after this mortal body and the mortal body after that and the mortal…

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Fear of the Afterlife & Panic Attacks

By Naj __ I always feared the afterlife. So when I experienced my first onset of hard-hitting panic attacks, I thought that I was going to die and be thrown into that world I feared the most. My first panic attack struck when I was 16. I was spacing out in Malay class when I…

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‘Siapa nak jaga mak?’ A Narrative on The Mental Health Toll of Caregiving

by Raudah Abdul Rashid __ ‘Siapa nak jaga mak?’ When Mak fell down again at night and had to be rushed to the hospital. I stayed overnight to take care of Mak and to make sure she was comfortable. No one asked me to. It was implied that I, as the only daughter should take care…

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