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5/24/2014 This Girl's got Steel Balls like a Medieval Mace

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This Girl's got Steel Balls like a Medieval Mace

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ONomadiKatFiled to: Badassery 5/09/14 11:25pm Yesterday 11:25pm

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When twenty-five year old Dunia Dunaev said she wanted to travel the world, she wasn't talking aboutgoing to Paris. Originally from Moscow, Dunia has spent half a year traveling overland through Turkey,Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. All by herself and on her own, through bad times and good, Dunia iscertainly owning it.

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Dunia either slept in a tent in the middle of nowhere, or couch surfed with locals as she traveled throughTurkey along the Black Sea coast. Her experiences were largely positive, until she encountered her firstterrifying bump in the road.



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It was in Iran that Dunia met up with one particular city's couch surfing ambassador. Normally, Duniapreferred to accept invitations from female hosts. However, female hosts are few and far between in placeslike Iran. Dunia thought she could trust the couch surfing ambassador because not only was he supposed torepresent his city, but his online profile had positive references. She was wrong.

The man picked Dunia up in his car. They hadn't gotten very far before Dunia could sense that somethingwas awry. The man quickly became aggressive and made unwelcome advances. Dunia pulled her legsclose to her body, making herself as small as possible in a fetal position, as the man locked the doors andattempted to rape her. He yelled at her to fix her hijab, explaining that if someone saw a girl in a car with adisheveled hijab, they might think that she was in trouble. But Dunia was in trouble.



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Luckily, Dunia did not need someone to save her that day in Iran. She physically repelled the man'sadvances, while firmly declaring that there would be no sex between them. Somehow, this worked, becauseDunia is seriously just that bad ass. In response, the man got really angry. He told Dunia that she had usedhim, and that she was nothing more than a ruined woman and a bad friend. He unlocked the doors andDunia escaped.

At first, Dunia was stunned and did not know how to react to the assault. She kept it bottled up inside. Thatis, until she met another girl who had also been assaulted by the very same man not five days beforehand.They knew they had to do something about it, or else the man would go on assaulting other femaletravelers.

Speaking from my experience, I deeply regret my [initial] silence. [It] was the reason other girlswere put in danger of untrustworthy couch surfing members, as I was not conscious or braveenough to talk about my controversial interaction with these guys. - Dunia Dunaev



The girls gave each other the courage to come out about their experiences, write negative references, andreport the man for his actions. Thanks to their combined efforts, he got banned from the couch surfingcommunity.

Dunia believes that the freedom to speak openly about her assault, as well as the final success of publiclyexposing the man for his behavior, helped her grow with more strength and confidence overall.

I realized this is something I do not want to hide, even after having some hard times withpeople telling me to keep silence, as I give [myself a] "bad image" or [I] "offend myself".People should know, IT HAPPENS. And it can happen to anyone. [So long as] there is taboofor these talks in the society, rapists and creeps will feel more free. [Their] victims will covereverything even better than he could have managed! A woman will end up feeling alone,thinking it is her problem only, and her guilt for "attracting" the abuser.

Always talk about your bad experiences with others. Other women, other couch surfingmembers from the country/city, [or] other trustworthy people. You will greatly help otherwomen, preventing them from trouble. Do not feel a victim! It is not your fault society has allthese creeps, but you can do something against it. -Dunia Dunaev

I asked Dunia what other solo women travelers can do to protect themselves from sexual assault. Shereplied,

Anyone makes her own choices...trust yourself. One of the most useful things I've learnedthroughout my trip: If you feel something is going wrong, it is going wrong.

Here is also the dilemma I [have been] facing throughout my whole trip. I do not want to berude to people, to harm them in this or that way. But I've realized I cannot be nice and polite toeveryone, especially to those already violating my private space, being too obtrusive, or gettingso much offended and mad with me when I say I'm not willing to have any interaction for mysafety reasons.

People from my country are said to be sullen, never smiling to strangers. Sometimes I feel Ineed to switch on my "inner Russian", how I secretly call it, not to make an impression I amflirty and welcoming, when I am just trying to be polite and friendly. - Dunia Dunaev



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A few weeks later, Dunia proceeded head on through the dangerous border crossing at Mirjaveh intoPakistan. She spent a total of three months exploring this country.

In Peshawar, a photo that was taken of Dunia gazing at a door made the local newspaper. She describedhow the Pakistanis she met weren't accustomed to foreigners. They showed great hospitality, while showingeven more intrigue by her presence.

Outside of Islamabad, Dunia stayed with a family who taught her how to shoot AK47s and three othermodels of guns.

They say the keep all the weapons at home for their protection, but sometimes they had moreweapons than family members. I could not really get if the people there are really proud ofhaving so much ammunition in their houses, or if they just wanted to impress [by] showingeverything they have....it was fun for me, posing with both my arms loaded with two hugeguns. - Dunia Dunaev



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That was before Dunia experienced real violence in Islamabad. She was staying in the city when a courtbuilding next door was bombed. The attack killed twelve people and injuring twenty.

After I experienced a terror attack in the capital, it [weapons] stopped being so amusing. Theyfelt scary...to believe people can and still create such scary machines to annihilate others. Thiscould not fit in my head, especially after imagining how ugly and awful it could be to be killedby another human being from this loud, huge, metal machine. I regret taking these pictures[posing with the guns]. - Dunia Dunaev



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Dunia took another photograph holding up a traditional style rug she found in Peshawar, just sixtykilometers away from the border with Afghanistan. The rug was intricately decorated with the motifs ofarmy tanks, helicopters, grenades, and assault rifles. Some might interpret that the subject portrayed withinthis rug reflects the glorification of violence in this part of the world. One Facebook user commented,

It reminds me of a modern day tapestry. While my redneck relatives might look at this andthink, 'cool, badass!', I can't help but feel there is a tragic tale to be told here. That the abstractstyle commonly associated with the Middle East is being used, but instead of mosaics, we haveinstruments of death. When I see this, I think of weapons being so abundant in the artist's worldthat it's as abstract as everything else. - Daniel Cameron Leach



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Dunia, who mostly stayed with local families, reported observing a culture in Pakistan where the conceptsof strength and power were hugely prevalent. She noticed in most situations, whoever had the most powerwas assumed to be in the right. This was often the case in domestic situations, where men assumed powerover the women.



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Dunia explained how she had met men in Pakistan and Iran who openly admitted to spousal abuse. Oneman told Dunia how angry he was with his wife because she wanted to take his clothes to a launder insteadof washing them herself. To assume his authority, the man "took care of it". He'd beaten his wife intosubmission, without any shame because it was expected.

Women in muslim countries are strictly adviced to be protected by their male relatives. On myown example I realized how much it can weaken a human being and make an easy target outof her. I feel women, besides free choice, should be given all the opportunities to protectthemselves, and the legislation must be more open to protecting women. - Dunia Dunaev



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Dunia also observed Pakistan's culture of power in the relationships between humans and animals. Oncountless occasions, Dunia saw small kids torturing puppies. She'd watched young boys tie puppy pawstogether with ropes and drag the dogs mercilessly down Pakistan's roads. Meanwhile, parents and otheradults stood by in silence. They called it "playing". They did nothing to halt the animal abuse.

It was near a bus stop in the conflict zone known as Kashmir that Dunia saw a man "playing" with a dog.Dunia had seen enough. Despite the fact that she was a woman by herself in one of the world's mostunstable regions, Dunia took it upon herself to stand up to the stranger in defense of the dog.

He was stepping on the dog's paws and hitting its face with his shoe. For some reason, the dogwas not attacking back. [It] just moaned and whined, not even rushing away from his abuser.People around did not take interest in the scene, like nothing special was going on. I stood upand pushed the guy. I do not know how it happened. I just felt it inappropriate to see abusehappening to a living creature, [while] everybody [was] taking it as [if it were] appropriate. -



Dunia Dunaev

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Dunia's favorite memory from her trip comes out of Pakistan as well. It is of climbing Ultar Mountain inKarimabad. It was a six hour trek - three hours up, and three hours down.

There were several avalanches covering the trail, and I sometimes had to climb up pure sand orstones with crazy angles...Big traitor stones slipped from under my shoes and rolled down theslope, followed by floods of sand...my best quality, stubbornness, led me further up, and I wasrewarded with this pure feeling of possessing full control over my actions. - Dunia Dunaev



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After Dunia and I first met in Lahore, she crossed the border to travel in India. Her first stop was to visit thespectacular Golden Temple in Amritsar. This is a Sikh pilgrimage site where people of all faiths arewelcomed, fed, and given shelter. After traveling India, Dunia went on to explore Nepal.



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It is this author's opinion that this girl from Russia is one hell of a badass. I asked Dunia how being on theroad and completing this overland trip between Istanbul and Kathmandu has changed her life andperspective. She explained,

The most true and thrilling experiences were those I got on the road. They seem moreconcentrated, and I learn from them faster...I cannot really divide my experiences into "good"and "bad". Through this trip, I came to an understanding that all experiences you get are toteach you something. If the lesson is not learnt, you will continue experiencing [the] samesituations until you learn...By initially putting myself in unusual circumstances, I learn to bemore strong and responsible for my life...I like possessing whole responsibility for my actionswhen I am on the road. I've changed, learning to be more perceptive, learning how to let go[of] things easier, and have more trust in myself. -Dunia Dunaev



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Being a solo traveler, I am more open to meeting new people...Most of the so-called "bad"experiences happened to me on the journey as a result of having too much trust to peoplewhom I did not know well enough to [make an informed] decision...One of the best parts forme is coming across trustworthy people who give me various types of hope. Those who protectme and help in hard situations. I made really close friendships being on the road together [withtrustworthy individuals] and sharing everything.

I do not feel I need to seek courage to do what I am doing...I realized I am not afraid to travelalone, as only a cowardly and unruly person would try attacking or taking advantage ofsomeone who seems to be "weaker". And why should I be afraid of cowards?? - DuniaDunaev



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Writen by Kat Vallera of NomadiKat Travel

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Photographs by Dunia used with permission. You can follow Dunia Dunaev and all of her badassery onInstagram

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