Reading all the fuss on the internet recently has made me think that we should thank

Awkarin, or Karin Novilda, the 18-year-old girl who has become the latest
controversial Instagram celebrity-cum-vlogger, and who happens to be a
#RelationshipGoals icon for her teenage fans.

No, it's not because her posts have gratified us the audience and commenters – the
way a sexy band member throws his sweaty T-shirt for the screaming audience to
grab. And it's not because her youth has made us feel young again.

Rather, it’s because her existence has managed to teach us adults a thing or two – if
only we were willing to learn from them. These are the lessons to me:

1.We happily and shamelessly slut-shame a teenage girl.

Slut-shaming means you think of someone, usually a girl or woman, as a slut just
because of what she wears or says or does. Slut-shaming, sadly, is common in daily
life. A female celebrity who likes to wear a certain kind of clothes is judged as easy
or immoral. A student who wears tight clothes to campus must have a “side job” as
an ayam kampus (a prostitute). A woman who was wearing a mini skirt when she
was sexually assault was asking for it.

Social media like Instagram, where people can post pictures as well as words,
makes slut-shaming too easy to do because it’s easy to be anonymous, making
mean comments under a picture of some girl you don’t know personally (but
apparently care so much about). This is especially true the more people are doing it.
Slut shaming even exists in that are supposedly written to guide teenagers through
their lives. And if someone complains, you can always say, “Look what she did. What
goes around comes around. She deserves it.”

After all, morality is a collective agreement, right? The more there are of you, the
more self-righteous you can be. Respect only comes after.

2.We are a bunch of sexist and racist people.

In Wikipedia, sexism is defined as “prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s

sex or gender." I know a bunch of people, usually females, who are fans of certain
foreign actors with amazing body shape. If the bule actor happens to have an
Instagram account and uses it to post seminude photos showing his well-trained
muscles, I’m pretty sure they follow him secretly so they can scroll his timeline as
part of their guilty pleasure. And that’s okay, because beautiful bodies can be a form
of art.

But imagine if the owner of the Instagram account is a local girl or a woman like
Awkarin or Mulan Jameela. Those exact same people would easily sneer and say
things like, “Why did she take this kind of pictures and share them to public? It’s a
shame. It’s vulgar!”

I do not understand why people see a woman’s body as vulgar, but not a man’s. The
body of a woman, especially that of an Indonesian woman, who is expected to be
modest and good-mannered, is so often sexualized and seen as an object of
immorality and therefore should be covered. But, of course, it doesn’t apply to men.

3.We forget what it's like to be young and we rarely try to be

understanding.

Do you remember what it was like being a teenager? I do. Being a teenager can be a
real mess. For me, the pressure to gain social acceptance is the root of it all. Social
acceptance is very important when you are a teenager. To be like the cool kids
means everything – and makes everything easier. To be adored by members of the
opposite sex is the meaning of your life. It's like a competition.

I was always a social weirdo. When I was in junior and senior high school, I was
bullied because someone had spread a rumor that I was a lesbian. The boys looked
as if they were disgusted when they had to ask me for a dance at our annual ball.
But I found a way to survive.

I met a guy through a chatting room. We formed a romantic relationship, first through
texts before we met physically. It was my first serious relationship. It felt like he was
the only person who was willing to accept me the way I was, and he easily became
my safety rope, although he was very possessive and although he sexually
assaulted me several times.

One day, he dumped me and the day after I swallowed 20 pills, hoping to die. Thank
God the suicide attempt failed. I was 17.

Life as a teenager can be stressful. It can even be a hell, especially when no one’s
there to talk to, when all grownups do is lecturing you from A to Z, like you don’t have
a mind of your own. But living as an adult for too long will easily make us forget it all.

4. We are superficial.

Some people say that Awkarin is a silly and shallow girl who only wants attention
and instant fame by being sensational in social media. If that theory is true, then I
should say, she learns from the best: our own society.

Who doesn’t want to be instantly famous in Indonesia? All those talent hunts who
promise to make people famous – even if people will forget them just as easily. All
the online media with their sensational headlines to gain more hits.

Who isn’t superficial in this country? Look at the last presidential election. Some
people even talked about which hand a candidate used for his daily activities as if it
mattered. Look at all the religious accessories people wear to make them look like a
better person, and how people gossip furiously about a public figure who recently
took off her hijab or converted to another religion.
It's hard to describe all these as something other than “shallow” nonsense.

5.We are a double-standard society and proud of it.

Awkarin’s style of relationship, which everybody deems vulgar, doesn’t belong only
to her generation. A friend of mine said that she’s already seen this style of
relationship among her friends since elementary school, back before social media,
which is why there was not much fuss about it.

I used the mIRC chatting room in junior high – and if you happened to use it, too, you
would know that having a user ID like ce_horny or ce_cari_co_sexy will get you a lot
of "hai" in a very short time. The older generation didn’t have the Internet, but they
had Enny Arrow.

Teenagers and sex are inseparable because teenagers have sexual drive, thanks to
their raging hormones. And that’s why it is very important to give them a
comprehensive sexual education. But our curriculum, of course, doesn’t believe in it.

Sex education is typically about showing students the anatomy of the reproductive
system and planting some scary pictures of STDs in their heads. There is no
teaching about body authority, no power relation in romantic relationship, no
contraception (campaigning for condom is seen as spreading immorality). Our
teenagers remain clueless, while their hormones are still raging.

6. We like to sniff into a person’s private business, although we have no

business in it, and we treat it like it’s okay.

No further explanation needed.

So that's the reason why Indonesians should thank Awkarin. She has reminded us of
a proverb we all learned in elementary school: “buruk muka cermin dibelah."
Because we often do break the mirror, when our face doesn't please us.
– Rappler.com

This article was first published on Magdalene.

Putri Widi Saraswati is a feminism and writing enthusiast. She’s not a big fan of
how people impose their concept of morality on others today. Unfortunately, she’s a
doctor – the one profession that morality cannot let go.
I personally think Karin is a smart girl who actually knows how to make money, and is
very good at it. Have you seen her Instagram feed? It actually looks aesthetically pleasing
on the eyes. She plans everything really well so that she would have a great feed that is
attractive for her audience.

See what I mean? I can’t have a feed like that, mine looks boring compared to her!

Yes she’s had her moments, yes she looked totally horrifying on all of her videos with her
curses and hideous outfits, but it all comes down to an addition of around 700k
Instagram followers (the first time I checked, she only had 300k followers and now over a
million). Who’s winning? Her. People are curious of her!

Now that we are starting to forget about her rekt ex-boyfriend video, a recording studio
(whose founder is now her new boyfriend) signed her and made her make another, well
honestly still rekt, music video with a pretty okay Indonesian rapper. That’s supposed to
be $$$ (CMIIW though, I don’t know and can’t predict how much she got from it). She’s
also getting more paid promotes (when an online shop pays her to promote their store
with their own pictures, usually it only stays on her feed for a few hours or days) and
endorsements (when an online shop pays her to take a picture with their products and it
stays forever on her feed. Those stuffs she’s holding or wearing on her pictures? She got
them for free) requests. Her fee could go up to IDR 2,5mill, perhaps even more. It’s a
mutually beneficial agreement, as those stores would get around 2k new followers from
Karin alone. Pretty effortless on the stores’ parts, no? I’ve seen some complaints that
endorsing her did nothing to their sales, but hey, perhaps you need a better strategy?

Karin is the true epitome of there is no such thing as bad publicity. You may disagree with
me, but I think she’s successfully turned all the hatreds into business.

Still not a good role model for young people, but parents, please be a bigger role model
for your kids! Don’t rely on the media to show what your kids can and can’t do. And well,
the good thing is, now she has toned down her cursings and the pictures she posted
aren’t that liberal anymore.

And about role model and moral thingy, sure, most of her action is not good, especially
for children and teenager like us, but believe me when I said while my friend may follow
her as in following her account and latest gossip, it isn't that fanatic and no one is
turning to be like her, it's all about people's own judgment of what's bad and what's
good, my friends and I thinks that it's okay for her to be like that, but we don't follow her
steps because we don't want to and we choose not to. Parents who complained about
Awkarin being a bad role model for their child should not make Awkarin as a role model
for their child at all, instead they should set themselves to be the good role model that
they want their children to follow. And if their child start to follow Awkarin’s steps? Time
to have a little chat with your kids then. :-)
Many parents are afraid that Karin, as a famous influencer on social media, could
bring negative influence to the young generation in Indonesia.

She gained more fame when she broke up with her boyfriend and uploaded a video
on Youtube, in which she cries and vents about what she feels after breaking up with
her ex and being resented by many for being a drama queen. The video went viral. It
hit 3 million views but eventually being deleted by herself due to many negative
feedback she received. Many people made jokes and funny memes from her video.

Recently, she uploaded a video of her singing Indonesian national anthem and
changed the lyrics with men’s genital. That is undoubtedly a major humiliation for
Indonesian people.

She’s a great example of someone who can change her image from stupid bad
girl to young inspiring entrepreneur and social media celebrity.

Look at her now,

She has over 4 M followers on instagram.. and no hate account. Well, probably still
have but the hate account isn’t as popular as before.

She has many business line such as hally by awkarin, bad influence, A Team, and her
new one is Awkenyang.

Oh, she doesn’t curse as much anymore, as far as I remember.

She even posted a video about her trying to be good, positive, and stuffs

She even did fly to sulawesy for charity and BUILD SCHOOL !

Over all, I think we can set her as a good example of someone who change for the
better. Some people might still think that it’s just an image for her social media
career. But let people think whatever they want to think. We can see it by ourselves
that she has changed (kind of a lot) from before. And she brings some positive
impact. She has provided people new job chance because of her business line and
done charity works for those who need it.

Instagram celebrity Karin "Awkarin" Novilda has attracted both criticism and
praise after taking part in several philanthropic stunts following the recent
#ReformasiDikorupsi (#ReformCorrupted) protests last month.
Politician and former 1998 activist Budiman Sudjatmiko tweeted on his
official twitter account @budimandjatmiko that Awkarin's actions were
driven by sensationalism, and compared poorly with entrepreneur and
philanthropist Tri Mumpuni, who was involved in hydro power electricity
development activities and was then awarded the Ramon Magsaysay
Award in 2011.

"Two examples of good deeds done by two women: 1. Awkarin and 2. Tri
Mumpuni. The first one [did good deeds] based on sensationalism, the
second one [for] essential reasons. Kindness should be sensational but
also essential. One is not enough. Our culture prefers the first one,
although our body needs the second one," he said in the tweet.

He followed the tweet with several other tweets, and ended with praise of
environmentalist Greta Thunberg, as well as activist Butet Manurung who
advocates and campaigns for the rights of indigenous people through
alternative education.

Awkarin responded to the tweets on her own Twitter account @awkarin,

saying that people should stop pitting women against each other.

"Do not compare a woman to another woman to bring down one of them.
Mba Dian Sastro, Mba Tsamara Amany, Bu Butet, and I have our own
roles in helping this country. We do not need to be compared. What is
needed is [for women] to be united and empowered. #SaveTheWorld," she
said in the tweet, referring to actress Dian Sastrowardoyo and young
politician Tsamara Amany.

On Sept. 24 this year, she became one of the very few mainstream
celebrities that openly supported the #ReformasiDikorupsi cause,
especially certain aspects such as freedom of speech and women's
rights.She and her team joined the student protest and distributed 3,000
meal boxes to the protesters. She also arrived after the protests with her
team to pick up trash.

Not long afterward, Awkarin flew to Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, to

inspect the site of peatland fires and spread the message of how awful the
situation was. There, she met with children affected by the haze, planted
trees and helped the firefighting team.
Encourage people to find a much better role model---

I’m not going to fully educate you on who awkarin is and all the
bad things she’s done, but we can just simply agree that no one
likes her except her preteen fans who don’t know any better. In
short, people would tell you that she is just a reckless teenager
who somehow turned famous online.

One day, her true-love-of-almost-5-whole-months suddenly

broke up with her and all hell broke loose. She made a 30-
minute vlog crying about it and the whole country is now talking
about her. People who don’t even want to know her, now do.

Following this, it seems that she has been getting a much bigger
amount of hate than usual. In her own words, people are “telling
her to die or kill herself, insulting her family, insulting her
appearance, constantly harassing her 24/7”. This is what we call
cyber bullying or online harassment, a very real and serious
form of harassment.

And now, this is the cue for people saying “She made herself
famous, she should’ve seen it coming, it’s her own fault, she
should’ve been more prepared, she’s just making a big deal out
of it, she should just introspect herself” etc. Even the smartest
(and the most progressive) people I know seem to agree that she
doesn’t have the right to be angry at all the hate she’s getting
because it was she herself that exposed her private life to the
public and that’s just a risk she’s got to deal with. In other
words, “she was asking for it”.

Well, if you like to blame things on “the risk”, a woman going

home alone through a dark quiet alley, or flirting with and
kissing a stranger in a nightclub, might also face the risk of
being sexually harassed that night. But if she were to become a
rape victim, would you tell her “you did this to yourself”? (If you
do, you’re a very terrible person.) Most of my smart friends
probably wouldn’t. And I’m sure you disagree that the Pakistani
woman killed by her brother to protect the family’s “dignity”
deserved it just because she posted provocative pictures online.
So why the double standards now?

Death threats might not be as serious as actual rape or murder,

but it’s still a real issue that many people are dealing with every
day. And awkarin might be the least likable person on the
planet, but she is still a victim, even if you think she caused it in
the first place by choosing to post things online. The victim’s
behavior does not justify the harassment. Basically what most of
you are saying is, “Stop victim blaming! …unless the victim is a
stupid, annoying, famous teenage girl. Then it’s definitely her
fault.”

If you dislike her, you can either try to ignore her existence or
criticize her actions or make parodies or memes or something,
but please don’t resort to sending/laughing at/approving online
harassment, especially towards a mentally unstable teenager.
Let’s not forget that she said she wants to or tried to kill herself
(not sure of the exact words), so if anything, she probably needs
help, not hate. It’s not easy to empathize with a person you don’t
like, but I think it’s something we all need to learn.

So, yes, while I might be talking about awkarin specifically, I’m

not here to defend her actions. I’m just speaking on behalf of all
the victims of online harassment who might have been
dismissed or mocked or laughed at when they tried to speak up.
I’m also afraid that victims of online harassment are likely to
pass it on and commit the same crime themselves. So please
break the cycle, don’t encourage cyber bullying towards anyone.

Thanks for reading.

The rise of “social media famous” young people in Indonesia is causing concern.
Like any other part of the world, Indonesian youngsters are avid users of social
media platforms; Instagram, Twitter, and lately, Ask.fm. The seemingly
harmless addiction, however, is not as innocent as it appears to be.

Karin Novilda, only 18 years of age, is just like any other teenage girl in Jakarta.
What makes her stands out, though, is that her Instagram followers exceed a
whopping one million. Going by the alias awkarin on multiple social
networking sites, Novilda is highly influential. The problem lies in what kind
of influence that is.

The self-proclaimed fashion blogger often shares snaps of her and her
significant other being intimate. On top of that, her spewing profanities or
smoking are often caught on camera and proudly uploaded. Her scantily clad
figure has also caused quite a controversy, as many label her lifestyle as unfitting
for Indonesia’s traditional culture.

Public displays of affection and any out-of-norm behaviors are frowned upon in
the national culture so it is not surprising that it is Novilda’s critics that have
earned her her popularity.

A week ago, Novilda once again landed herself in the headlines as she released
a rap song with artist, Young Lex. The song, titled Bad, reflects the overall
quality of the production, but it is the lyrics that irk parents alike. The words
imply that it is acceptable to be foul-mouthed and emphasise the falseness of
people’s judgment on both of them.

Concerned authoritative figures took decisive action by reporting Novilda, and

another blogger Anya Geraldine, who filmed her recent getaway with her
boyfriend to the KPAI (Indonesian Child Protection Commission). Novilda, who
once admitted grossing up to Rp 30 million (roughly US$ 2,300) every two days
out of her endorsement deals and YouTube ad earnings, is accused of being a
public figure with no moral responsibility.

And because most of her followers are underage teenagers, it is only reasonable
that KPAI is scrutinizing her posts.

Too far?

With governmental institutions now involved, the public’s interest in young

social media celebrities seems has increased. Many are insistent that such a
move is entirely unnecessary and pointless. Womens rights activist Chika Noya
even questioned the standards used by KPAI, saying the action was “an attempt
to control a woman’s right of her body and sexuality.”

Noya urged KPAI to instead educate the public rather than ban social media
influencers like Novilda, and even criticized the “double standard,” for not
taking action against schools that require their non-Muslim students to wear a
hijab. Noya further implied that KPAI has been limiting “freedom of
expression.”

KPAI secretary general Erlinda answered this claim saying “An individual’s
right is limited by other individuals’ rights, as well as the law and the norm. If
she (Novilda) wants only her rights to be respected, please, go live in the jungle.”
Erlinda had previously said Novilda’s uploads “contradict the existing norm and
the identity of the nation.”

She also criticized the blogger’s way of presenting indecent acts as a lifestyle.
According to Erlinda, this is apparent from her “improper speech, displaying
her body sensually and behaving imprudently with her boyfriend.”

Youth in danger

The “be yourself, do what you want to do” adage is something that teens, no
matter where they are, would like to believe. As as youngsters struggle to face
turbulent years trying to find their identity, even the slightest influence can
easily change them for good, or for bad.

But parents, as always, are the first-line of defense when it comes to battling
widespread negative influences. Although each and every person’s beliefs and
principles may vary, parents always want nothing but the best for their children.
And this may include educating their young ones on the danger of defying social
norms in an attempt to be a ‘unique’ individual.

Though being yourself is what every youth aspires to be it is good to keep in

mind that Indonesia is a country that still upholds Eastern culture and thus,
there is no harm in complying with the existing norms. As the saying goes, when
in Rome, do as the Romans do.

As I told you before. Don't just look at her black, look at her positive things too. She's just
not too bad for me. She's own herself and wanna be herself in her way.

Our society is mostly dominated by men, and most of us think that only men have
the right to earn money and support their families. It’s difficult for women to get
access to the market. I wanted to break this stereotype, and that’s why I started my
own business.
For me, it all started with receiving a loan from BRAC and UN Women. Along with
the funds, I received training on how to budget and plan my business, and learned
skills about cattle farming.
 I bought a cow with the loan from BRAC to start my own business [of breeding
cows]. I am planning to build a big farm eventually.
I also learned about how I can contribute to my society as a woman. For example,
there is a rising trend of extremism and we should all try our best to protect our
community. I believe that if women are empowered, we can create more peaceful
societies. When a woman is able to realize her worth and utilize economic
opportunities, she has more say at home and in the community.
Among all the women receiving loans in our community, I was chosen to attend the
UN Women Regional Conference held in Tokyo. I had never stepped outside of my
village before, let alone out of the country! I met so many new people and heard
stories of how women are being empowered in other countries as well. When I came
back to my community, they were very proud of me and welcomed me with flowers
and a reception!
There are still many girls in my community who are unemployed. The way I took
steps to change my life has made them realize that they too can become
entrepreneurs like me. They are now motivated to look for similar opportunities to
improve their skills and start their own businesses.”

An empowered woman is someone who knows her strengths and isn't afraid to embrace them.
To be empowered means to be in control of your ...

 Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills
and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. More than 40
years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserted that "everyone has the right to
education". In 1990, Governments meeting at the World Conference on Education for All in
Jomtien, Thailand, committed themselves to the goal of universal access to basic education. But
despite notable efforts by countries around the globe that have appreciably expanded access to
basic education, there are approximately 960 million illiterate adults in the world, of whom two
thirds are women. More than one third of the world's adults, most of them women, have no
access to printed knowledge, to new skills or to technologies that would improve the quality of
their lives and help them shape and adapt to social and economic change. There are 130 million
children who are not enrolled in primary school and 70 per cent of them are girls.

 4.4. Countries should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate inequalities
between men and women as soon as possible by:
(a) Establishing mechanisms for women's equal participation and equitable representation at all
levels of the political process and public life in each community and society and enabling women
to articulate their concerns and needs;
(b) Promoting the fulfilment of women's potential through education, skill development and
employment, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health
among women;
(c) Eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and
realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health;
(d) Adopting appropriate measures to improve women's ability to earn income beyond
traditional occupations, achieve economic self-reliance, and ensure women's equal access to the
labour market and social security systems;
(e) Eliminating violence against women;
(f) Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against women, such as those based on
proof of contraceptive use or pregnancy status;
(g) Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to
combine the roles of child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation in the
workforce.

Empowerment includes the action of raising the status of women through education, raising
awareness, literacy, and training. Women's empowerment is all about equipping and
allowing women to make life-determining decisions through the different problems in
society.