THERE is a silent epidemic in our society—one that rarely makes headlines but relentlessly claims lives: the lethal entitlement of men who cannot accept women’s autonomy.
The recent murder of 17-year-old influencer Sana Yousaf in Islamabad is not merely a case of “rejection gone wrong.” It is a tragic, yet predictable, expression of a cultural pathology—where patriarchy, toxic masculinity and institutional failure produce violence that is systemic, not exceptional.
In a country where countless women face harassment, coercion and femicide, Sana’s case is not an aberration—it is a symptom. She was not killed because she defied any moral boundary. She was killed because she said “no”—a refusal seen as rebellion against a social order that expects submission and punishes women for asserting autonomy.
This violence is rooted in the framework of hegemonic masculinity—a concept by R.W. Connell describing the culturally exalted ideal of manhood grounded in dominance and heterosexual control. In Pakistan, this model is not only normalized but institutionally upheld—reproduced in homes, reinforced through education, echoed in religious rhetoric and amplified by media. Boys are socialized into entitlement over women’s bodies and attention, while girls are conditioned for silence and submission. When this fragile masculine ego—built on power and possession—is confronted with rejection, it often reacts with violence, legitimized by a complicit culture.
Sana’s visibility on TikTok and Instagram—harmless elsewhere—became a death sentence in a society where women’s presence in digital spaces is seen as transgression. Her autonomy was perceived as defiance; her refusal to “belong” to a man disrupted the patriarchal script demanding female compliance.
Calling this a case of “repeated rejections,” as Islamabad IG did, dangerously narrows the lens. What unfolded wasn’t just an interpersonal breakdown but institutionalized violence. As Johan Galtung explains, structural and cultural violence silently enforce inequality and limit human potential. In Pakistan, this violence is sustained by the absence of sex education, the neglect of boys’ emotional development and silence around consent, respect and boundaries. The murder of women is not an anomaly—it is a brutal symptom of a diseased societal order that confuses control with love and silence with safety.
We’ve seen this before—Qandeel Baloch, Noor Mukadam and now Sana Yousaf. Each case reveals a society that romanticizes male control and punishes female autonomy. Pakistan ranks last among 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025—a grim reflection of its failure in ensuring gender equality in law, education, health and economics.
Until masculinity is redefined with compassion, women’s lives will remain conditionally valued. Sana should have lived. Her voice and dreams were her right. If her murder is to mean anything, it must spark reckoning and dismantle the structure that enabled it.
—The writer is a researcher and columnist based in Islamabad.
(zakiir9669@gmail.com)
