Reading Response about “Sexual Violence Is a Crime, Sometimes”:
Stop The Sexual Violence! Stop It!
In the article “Sexual Violence is a Crime, Sometimes”, the author is Maya Mikdashi who is well known for writing about gender and sectarian issues occurring in Lebanon. The author addresses a very touching and interesting topic, sexual violence, which should be everyone’s because anyone, no matter what is his or her gender, could be subjected to sexual violence. Marital rape has been a very prevalent issue in Lebanon, and the civil law exempts the husband who attempts marital rape. Although marriage grants both partners rights to each other’s bodies, this doesn’t mean that the man has the right to sexually abuse his wife without being punished.
In this article the author’s purpose is to persuade readers, specifically the Lebanese citizens that marital rape is like any kind of rape. She lists several countries that consider marital rape a criminal deed, unlike Lebanon whose culture and religious authorities have made it seem a very normal issue. Also, the author shows that Lebanon’s regulations and rules don’t give equal rights to both males and females. Finally, she calls for all Lebanese people to participate in the upcoming protest against rape including marital rape in order to change the law that protects it.
Moreover, the author uses various literature devices which are effective in delivering the message clearly to the readers, specifically the Lebanese citizens. They are the basis in building a very inspiring piece of writing that reach out for the readers and change their thoughts about marital rape in order to take an action and m...
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...n woman, while the unfortunate woman can't do the same thing if they decide to marry foreign man. Moreover, the most powerful privilege that the man has is that he could sexually abuse his wife, and no one could stand in his way or punish him just because religion gives him the legal right to do so (paragraph two). I can see that females are worthless in Lebanon, and his main cause behind this issue is civil law being correlated with religion.
In conclusion, men shouldn’t sexually abuse their wives even if they are granted rights over their bodies. It is unfair that they get exempted by the civil law for this criminal act. Lebanese citizens should stand together in the upcoming protest that the author was telling about in the text since rape including marital rape should be stopped, and any person of any gender could get subjected to sexual violence.
Through the article “Saving Amina” the writer Alison M. Jaggar has tried to address the issue that when it comes to violation of rights of women only culture cannot be blamed as root cause rather there are other factors as well. She has tried to identify those factors by raising following issues:
In the story “In Camera, Saadawi illustrated how women were treated by the legal system in Arabic country when they did something against the system. The protagonist, Leila Al-Fargani, who was a young woman on trial for calling the “mighty one”, which is a respective title for the President of their country, a stupid man. Moreover, during the time she was waiting for the court date, she was brutally beaten and raped by ten men who seem to be the guards. At the time she was in the court, she was still suffering from the pain both in physical and mental way, but she did not collapse. When the time the judge and those with him declared that ten men raped Leila and also her father’s honor got trampled. (This is the way we torture you women- by depriving you of the most valuable thing you possess”). For the response she said: “You fool! The most valuable thing I possess is not between my legs. You are all stupid. And the most stupid among you is the one who leads you.” In one hand, this quote completely showed that the man thought this sexual violence was totally right when the woman had committed a crime. In anther hand, it also showed that in the very deep of Leila, the...
Through Olga Khazan’s article, she analyzes possible solutions without examining the underlying causes. An importance is put into providing good sex education, and the need for an increase in more direct conversation, targeted towards men, regarding the problem in order to reach an adequate solution. That being said, the article goes forth and suggests that by the power of communication, rape and sexual assault will come to a halt. In reality, society knows rape to be a much more serious offense. The text trivializes the occurrence of rape and sexual assault by the tone in which it is presented. Masculinities, or society’s conventional images of what being a man is, also play a part in the underlying problems, which are not addressed by
It revolves around the issues of gender oppression, sexual assault, and importance of social status. Alifa Rifaat manages to express her opinions towards these themes by writing about a typical Egyptian marriage. She puts in focus the strong influence that a patriarchal society has. She also manages to prove how important social status is in society. The uses of literally elements such as theme and irony help express this view. It shows that in a typical Egyptian society women are commonly oppressed by all males in society
The laws included have been specifically listed to support the author’s point of view toward women’s rights. The article lists and argues the effects of the experiences of the victims, which is a plus because I will build up these experiences to argue in my inquiry paper that marital rape exists and brings only negative experiences. Furthermore, in a marriage both parties have to consent in having sexual intercourse not just one is allowed to decide for the other. With that said the author then includes equality between men and women. It talks about women’s right not being so equally balanced to men 's rights, which is why men are exempt to be prosecuted for raping their wives. The author brought out a big point on equality, men and women do indeed have different levels of equality. Men usually have a bigger range of power over women and the whole topic of marital rape is wrapped around equality. With that said without unbalanced equality between men and women marital rape would not be an issue. At the end of the article the author finally states its position clearly over marital rape and women. The author argues that marital rape
Rape is a physical attack, not sex. Rape crisis counselors and researchers define rape as an act of violence in which sex is used as a weapon (Benedict 2). A woman is raped in this country every two minutes. Between 1996 &1999 7,787,00 rapes were reported. The actual number is much, much higher because only 26% of rapes are reported. Husbands or boyfriends assaulted 28% of these women, 35% of these women were raped by people they knew; 1 in 4 of these rapes took place in a public place (Grady 4). Rape is a problem that infiltrates all countries and cultures; a Muslim woman who has been raped is disowned by her fiancé and her family for having brought them shame by becoming dirtied and thus not a candidate for marriage (Benedict 2).
Trofin, Liliana and Madalina Tomescu. “Women’s Rights in the Middle East”. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice Vol. 2(1). 1948-9137 (2010): 152-157.
Crimes of a sexual nature – i.e. gender-based, sex-based or sexual crimes – amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are almost always physically violent and/or gravely denigrating. By nature crimes involving sexual violence are serious – otherwise they would not constitute or amount to atrocity crimes. For the purposes of this paper, atrocity crimes of a sexual nature, sex-based atrocity crimes and gender-based atrocity crimes are generally referred to as “sexual violence”.
You will realize the nationalists’ dream. You will learn foreign languages, have a passport, devour books, and speak like a religious authority. At the very least, you will certainly be better off than your mother.” Reading this masterpiece we can easily see the Middle East women’s dreams for education and freedom, things that we the women from the West taking as granted.
Thesis: It is crucial to expose the “poisonous” consequences that are a direct result of a lenient society that allows rape culture to prevail.
Nicaragua is a country plagued by several important issues, such as poverty and the lack of sanitation and clean drinking water. However, discrimination against women has become increasingly prevalent in nations of Latin America and has manifested in outright violence against women. In Nicaragua, “femicides,” or the homicides of women at the hands of men, and violence against women are becoming increasingly significant issue as a result of the pervasive culture of “machismo”; the Integral Law Against Violence Against Women, passed in 2012, criminalized violence against women, but has recently been mediated after facing opposition from several groups.
The first essential means by which the writings can be connected is through the settings of both the authors and the writings presented. Some basic research of both Nawal El Saadawi and Laurie Penny will expose the underlying beliefs held by both authors, namely feminism, or essential human rights in general. The society and culture of both Britain and Egypt provide ample opportunity for one to conn...
A second point raised during the reading which exemplifies gender inequality tendencies of the society includes polygamy. In the story, after Modou and Binetou’s marriage, the guests go to Ramatoulaye’s house for a surprise visit. Tamsir, Modou’s older brother, tells Ramatoulaye that “God intended [Modou] to have a second wife” and that “there is nothing he can do about it” (Bâ, 2008, p. 38). He soon continued by saying that “a wife owes her husband [happiness]”
The safety of the Syrian refugees both in camps as well as in the regions outside camps is an ongoing problem. In Egypt, refugees are generally welcomed by host communities. However, a survey found that about 50 per cent of the refugee households consider leaving the country. Out of these people, 27 per cent said that it is due to the worsening of security in Egypt. In the survey, one-fourths of the participants say that due to the harassment by the locals, Syrian women and children are considered as not safe in the country. Problems in children’s safety also occurs, and this include child marriage and child labour. In Iraq, Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a main concern. Victims fail to report the incidents and get assistance due to fear. These are especially true for the Syrian women and girls. In Lebanon, many women experience SGBV due to the ab...
Nawal El Saadawi is an Egyptian psychiatrist, feminist and an activist who has written many books on the subject of Middle Eastern women, and the practice of female genital cutting in the society. Initially, she went to this prison in order to do research in a female inmates, and their experience in the prison. However, after a while she got interested in meeting the woman he who had killed a man and had been sentenced to hanging. She based this book on her encounter with Firdaus and Firdau’s life story. Firdaus story is the contemporary story of sexism, discrimination and sexual abuse that occurs all around the world. She is abused by her father, her uncle, her husband and her one true love. Throughout the book, author shows the difficulty of being a woman in the patriarchal society during 1970’s in Egypt. At the same time, the entire book really perpetuates the stereotype that western culture has about gender discrimination in Middle Eastern nations.