Almost every day there are shootings, kidnappings, rapes and murders of girls and women by armed groups. Women in Iraq are now living more under threat than in previous years, especially if they stick up for their rights or speak out against misogyny. Feminists are always victims of deliberate attacks. The political and economic consequences of the second Gulf War in 2003 led to a marked deterioration in the legal and social status of women in Iraq. Professional gangs assault women in order to sell them as prostitutes or to blackmail them by kidnapping them and then demanding ransom payments as is the case with kidnappings of middle-aged women (harem). Violence against women in Iraq affects all Iraqis.