TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains mention of assault and violence
At just 19, she rubs shoulders with the likes of Stephen Wolfram, has awards from the King of Dubai and Cambridge University, is a voice that has impacted issues like sexism, LGBTQ+ equality, and mental health services. She is an activist, writer, journalist, artist, and computer programmer who volunteers in hospitals and sets up NGOs that empower women in her free time. Meet Shahin Imtiaz
I first met Shahin in my evening calculus class, when my boyfriend excitedly told me to seek her out and befriend her. Since then, I find myself always amazed at the accomplishments she makes nearly every day. When I messaged her saying I wanted to interview her for my article, she was elated and in disbelief, but excitedly accepted the offer. When I met up with her, I got to know her on a more personal level, discovering where her internal fire is fueled from and why she puts every ounce of passion into everything she does.
Do you have a favourite memory from a problem you tackled?
I don’t think I can pick just one. Working at The Varsity and The Spectatorial have been great learning experiences, and they’re both great for getting wheels in motion – especially The Varsity. I brought up the issue of sexism in tech and engineering on campus for the fall magazine – so many women and men came forward with stories to tell – and now the course student union will be implementing equity training to better deal with this massive yet hardly addressed problem. […] I spent a part of last summer investigating mistreatment of transgender individuals and brought to light allegations against CAMH, a UofT teaching hospital. After that, their youth gender identity clinic was closed down.
I [also] investigated how the university’s lack of adequate and centralized resources led to a mentally vulnerable student falling through the cracks. Just recently, I got the opportunity to start working with the Vice President University Affairs of UTSU to push for better policies, services and mental wellness initiatives on campus, and I want to broaden the conversation on mental health and what the university and union can do to better help students.
You study cognitive and computer science, which are not directly related with journalism or equity. What drives you to speak out and bring about social change, through The Varsity or otherwise?
Yeah, well, I guess my motivations are not academic. I don’t do this because I want to get into grad school or anything; the truth of the source is that I had a pretty rough time growing up, and I know exactly what it feels like to be voiceless. Almost every child in my family was sexually abused, but when we dared to speak up about it we were coerced or manipulated into staying silent. It was such a social taboo that there weren’t even laws in the country against sexual assault on children until recently. So now, when I speak up and use my work as a way to fight forms of oppression, it’s kind of it’s own reward. I have a voice now that I didn’t before and I’m trying to exercise a right I value immensely. Speaking out, and helping others find their voice, has been a way to heal.
It seems like you’ve done, and are doing a lot. What are you most proud of in your fight against oppression?
It would be easy to say that the stuff I do and the changes I see on campus because all of it is really fulfilling, but there’s something else that impacts me personally. Last summer, when I went home after I finished my first year, I sort of beat up a pedophile…vigilante style. […] During a social event, a man who was trusted by the community was caught red-handed molesting a child – there were half a dozen or so witnesses, but because anything sexual is such a social taboo, everyone decided to uncomfortably ignore it, — pretend nothing had happened. It was exactly the same thing that happened to me – from the denial, and coercion to manipulation. I felt like I was going to pop a vein in anger.
After taking the child to safety, I tried to get the adults to confront reality. Some did and some didn’t, but nobody was willing to take any action. At that point, my cousins and I decided to take matters into our own hands; we made our voices heard and tried to get the police involved. The pedophile tried to buy us off and used threats to intimidate us, but we wouldn’t back off. He is a burly 6’2 man in his late 20s, and when nothing was phasing us, he did all he could to show his power over me, including choking a 60 year-old man right in front of me. After that I couldn’t hold back; my cousins and I banded together to take him down with everything we had. We are three petite girls, barely 5 feet tall, kept from speaking too loud our whole lives, but that night we took control and fought back against all of that oppression. It really felt like we were taking down the patriarchy in that moment.
He ran away that night and escaped jail time because of corruption among other things, but we managed to get people to acknowledge what he did and sort of boycott him socially. Now there’re people who are working against him and other known pedophiles who had gotten away with their crimes because of the spinelessness of the community. It isn’t the same as seeing them in jail, but it’s a start.
Wow. if you were to give any advice for anyone who is struggling with anything of this sort, what would you say?
I’d probably say learning to talk about any form of oppression can be so powerful. It can often be difficult, you risk a lot of things by speaking up, but if it is something you feel strongly about – it is more than worth it. You will find that you are never the only one going through something. That’s one thing that still surprises me even now – when people start talking about an issue, there is always a lot of overlap in their individual experiences, and if not disrupted, everyone goes around thinking they are the only one.
How do you want to change things in the near future? How do you think you could get these things done?
I’m continuing my work with the Varsity and looking towards working with the UTSU with changing policies and improve matters for students. The Varsity is great for getting the word out about issues, but I think the best way to affect things is from the source, and to work with the people who make the policies.
I’d like to possibly impact personal isolation on campus, like helping students get integrated into the University community. In my first year I, like so many others, also had a hard time getting used to it all, and I think that one of most important components of mental wellness is a community and support network. Campaign For Community(C4C) is doing some excellent work on that front, and I want to personally do more things with them.
I am also looking to develop and release a healthy eating app start-up with some friends, so that’s another thing for me. Hopefully it’ll end up improving some people’s’ lives.
Thanks so much for this interview, just one last thing. Is there anything you’d like to say that I didn’t bring up? Maybe an issue you want to talk about or maybe advice for people looking to get more involved?
Yeah it’s no problem! I really like the work HerCampus is doing, and bringing students’ stories and issues to the forefront is fantastic. For people looking to get more involved, I’d say apply and try for all the things you want, no matter how good or bad you think your chances are. You might be surprised how things work out. This city and its universities are a brilliant place to be – there are so many different things to do and explore. Make the most out of your experience.