This paper analyzes several aspects concerning the national issues of rape and sexual harassment incidences
in the context of Kazakhstan via a discourse analysis approach of social media activist movements. The article
touches upon crucial social media movements, such as ‘#MeTooTalgo’, ‘NeMolchi.kz’ or ‘#OrtashaEmes’, which
all emerged after the 2016 incident with the rape case in a Talgo Train, causing eventually an upward rising
tendency for awareness-raising social media campaigns across the country. Alongside that, the paper also
provides insight into the discussion about the societal influence of the contextual conservative patriarchal state on
women, the factors causing women to become victims of sexual and physical abuse as well the power of the social
media as a tool and platform for catalyzing the enraged voices of women into influential instruments for societal
changes. On top of that, this paper also looks at how the movements of social media activism have influenced
government decisions and law amendments in the country towards tightening legislations. The paper follows a
discourse analysis research methodology, where only secondary sources of information are used and referred to.
In conclusion, the significance of this paper is that it tries to enlighten and bring forth one of the societal problems
that women and under-aged girls in Kazakhstan face, and which has yet to be accepted as a “societal problem” by
the society itself. Hence, despite the conservative regime with a still developing but much promising civic society,
social media has shown to be ‘a free fighting space’ for those who want to voice their problems and for those who
want to be heard.
