You heard it right, I was blackmailed! I do not think there is anyone else like me who checks other messages or filter messages regularly. I check those to see if my blackmailer has come back to blackmail me or not. Ehh, do not now come and lecture me on how am I giving the blackmailer my attention, time, energy and focus and making him/her feel a lot more powerful? Do not just lecture me on something that you have not gone through, probably. And if you have, then, I feel you.
Imagine, just imagine, no, come on, close your eyes and imagine, that you have woken up, brushed your teeth and opened your Facebook Messenger and you saw an account created with your name, your photos and that account has messaged you with some of your private pictures from long ago saying that these pictures will be leaked publicly and will be sent to your family’s Facebook profiles.
Now, take the whole incident in, and tell me how would you have felt? You would have shit in your pants, do anything crazy to get out of the situation, panic, stress and go crazily crazy. I went through the same emotions too.
Long story short- Allah has blessed me with parents like Abbu and Ammu and a brother like Akif with whom I had the privilege to sit down and share whatever was happening with me. They calmed me down and made themselves hyper without letting me get affected. They stood by me like rocks.
The blackmailing happened in 2018, multiple times, from multiple accounts. It stopped as I did not respond to those at all. I do not know if it will start again or not.
The pictures were from 7-8 years ago. What if, they get leaked now? Will you all judge me? Should I care? Should I not care? Will you think my ‘man ijjot’ is lost if the pictures get leaked and get viral? Will I be able to take the trauma? I don’t know. All I know is, I have my family beside me.
Written By: Tahiya Islam
Tahiya Islam is the Director of Media & Publication of AIM Initiative Foundation, a nonprofit organization of Bangladesh. She is a Teaching Fellow in Teach for Bangladesh as well.
Because of her passion towards writing and public speaking, she has founded Pensive Stories where everyone is welcome to share their mental health experiences and stories through articles, stories, poems, audio and video podcasts.