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Essay On Indian Taboo
The problems with honor killings
The problems with honor killings
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“Honour is kind of what you get when you weaponise manners, but if you 're brought up in a system where honour is valued more than life itself it makes a lot more sense” (Jasper Fforde). In India many religious traditions are created to believe that men are superior to women. This allows men to believe that as a higher status, they are allowed to control the actions of the women in their families. Honour killings take place all over India without being reported daily. Ultimately, this is the reason why laws and restrictions must be applied more rigorously amongst India’s society to better protect the rights of women living in a country encompassing injustice and unseen wrongdoing. In order to create and apply laws the government must attend …show more content…
In order to resolve this ongoing issue, police corruption should be reported and the Indian police should be thoroughly sifted for corrupt government members. Police are known to ignore reports made against honour killings due to their respect towards the ones that the reports are being made against. These honour killings are often disregarded and not counted as as homicides. The usual “victims, therefore, are women and persons belonging to vulnerable disadvantaged and socially oppressed castes”(???). Since the honour killings are occurring against the minority, the police choose to handle these cases with less importance or sometimes, not at all. The Indian government should be taking honour killings in a more serious matter in order to create a more civilized society. “Honour killings should be dealt with an iron hand. It [is] futile to reason with such barbaric society and only more awareness and abolition of the caste system could put an end to it”(???). Since the majority of the Indian government is run by men, the wrongdoings against women are often found to be ignored. Considering all of these factors, although men are the majority, the opinions of government leaders should not affect the way laws are set. …show more content…
The women in Indian households have been raised to accept and respect the men in their families as they are told to. During incidents where honour killings occur in public, many citizens do not have to courage to stand up to the ones committing the crime. As shown in this article, this means that “students” can be “murdered in full public view”(???) and no one will do anything about it, such as the incident in Udumalpet. Incidents like such occur since society has been raised to accept that everything men do is done right. Due to religious and traditional oppression, women are raised to believe they do not choose who they marry. However, Indian citizens must understand it is a choice of will and one should be allowed to marry whom they please. As this article states, “Both the government of the day and civil society should come out strongly in defense of liberal values relating to inter-caste marriages and the right of men and especially women to choose a companion of their choice. In this, neither the family, not the community (let alone the state), should have any say”(???). The government or family of one should not be in charge of what they do in their life. Therefore, one should be allowed to marry whoever they will to marry no matter what traditions of the family are being broken. In
In a scene the film Ravi goes to a wedding in India where a family member is being wedded. Ravi asked if he was happily marrying his wife, in love, and not having second doubts, all his family member expressed was no remorse, but it seemed as if it was something casual for him, it was necessary to marry, and that the bride he had chosen was approved from his parents, and the community of Patels. It seemed that throughout the film arrange marriage is viewed as normal in India, they don’t seem to ask their children if they’re happy about being arrangbeds into a marriage, it something that when you come of age you have to do. However in Indians living in America are challenging their parents and their cultures religion of arranged marriage. In America they are looking at the diverse cultures and falling love with people outside their culture, and making work, while others are still in the biodata and probably decided to marry into a Patel or other Indian name, yet still experienced dating other men before deciding. What was weird is that some Indian women don’t date until later in their college years when they are away because of the strict household their parents had and from fear of disappointing their family, and being
Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie is a gut-wrenching novel centered around the storyline of an unknown killer who has a strong and evident motive for kidnapping and killing people throughout the novel's progression. The people that the killer takes interest in consists of mostly white men. This deep burning fire within the killer has an extensive connection with the complexity of tension between whites and Indians, as radio host Truck Schultz states through multiple broadcasts. The novel also has another character that stands out, John Smith. Sherman's novel has two killers, John Smith and Marie Polatkin, who share very identical qualities such as an equal level of hatred towards the average white male and a strong sense of anger issues.
Honor killings are acts of retribution, frequently causing death. These acts are often committed by the male family members against female family members. Victims of honour killings are believed to have brought dishonor or shame upon the family. In 2007, a study by Dr. Amin Muhammad and his colleague, Dr. Sujay Patel of Memorial University, Canada, researched how the tradition of honor killings was brought to Canada The report highlighted that ‘’When people come and settle in Canada they can bring their traditions and forcefully follow them. In some cultures, people feel some boundaries are never to be crossed, and if someone would violate those practices or go against it, then killing is justified to them’’ (Leaders-Post, 2007). The Shafia family homicide is a perfect example of culture crisis leading to crime. The tragic murders really emphasize all the key aspects of how two cultures
Gender-based violence is made possible by the ideology of sexism in Indian traditional culture which argues that women are worth less than men in the sense of having less power, status, privilege, and access to resources that is more prevalent in middle class and low caste families.
Honor Diaries, produced 2014, focused on the treatment of women in Muslim majority countries, specially the issue of honor killings. The film was based on the narratives of nine women, activists for women’s rights in Muslim committees in various parts of the world. These women experienced or had members of the family that experience ill treatment in Muslim communities. The film focuses on the importance of honor, in which the Islamic principles are grounded upon. The way the women dress, act, and who she marries must bring honor to not only the their families but to their communities as well. Depending upon the stringent values of family and the country, a woman would be killed by her family or the community if she acts out of her place. Some of these attacks including pouring acid, cutting the nose and ears of women, stoning them to death, etc. Honor killings are more of a cultural practice than it is religious practice since it is not mentioned in the Quran directly. However, we do see texts within the Quran
Recently, a horrendous gang rape and murder case in India has caused many people to speak out against sex crimes. A female medical student was beaten with metal rods, raped, and then thrown from a moving bus by four men. In response, many people have called for stricter laws dealing with sexual violence. This has also lead to some focus on the sex trafficking aspect of sexual violence. In an article by the Editorial Board of the New York Times, issues of enforcement were brought to light by explaining that sex trafficking is growing in India because of extreme poverty, “a gender imbalance resulting from sex-selective abortion practices,” and “India’s affluence.” The writers of “Sex Trafficking in India” adequately argue that in order to solve the issue of sex trafficking there needs to be stricter enforcement of existing laws that deal with sex crimes by appealing to their intended audience through statistics, expert testimonies, cause and effect, and descriptive language.
“Arranging a Marriage in India” by Serena Nanda is a well written, informative article aimed at sharing the view of the Indian culture on arranged marriages and also showing how much effort is put into the process of arranging a marriage. Our own culture has evolved into accepting the fact that we are all independent individuals who could not imagine having someone else make such a significant decision for us. Serena Nanda does an excellent job of using her sources within the society as evidence of the acceptance of the arranged marriage aspect of their culture.
Shahrzad Mojab’s article, “The Politics of Culture, Racism, and Nationalism in Honour Killing”, explores how honour killing is intertwined with gender, class, religion, culture, and race. The question that Mojab asks,” If violence against women is universal, why name it in a way that evokes a particular religion, culture, race, community, or nation?” is the foundation for her research. As indicated by the number of times Mojab, alone, sat in a courtroom for cases linked to honour killings, it is evident that the visibility that honour killing has around the word is linked more specifically to culture, religion and race than it is to violence against women. At the root of this is the patriarchal system that exists in many cultures, where honour
One of the main arguments for arranged marriages is that parents, being older and more experienced, are better able to find a suitable match for their children. This belief relies on the trust the offspring has that their parents understand what would be best choice or most suitable for their children. This trust is often discouraged by the individualist ideal and rebel teen mentality sponsored by American mass-media. However, in India trust between parent and child are common. When Nanda tried helping arrange a marriage, we see that parents in India weigh many considerations when choosing partners for their children including the statuses of the individuals (including their caste and career path), the social dynamics between the members of both households, and what resources the other family and potential partner have. At least in the case given in the reading, this process can be though and produce a good marriage with stable family ties. Another argument made for arranged marriage is that since the parents are handling the marriage, the children are free to enjoy life and not worry about the details. To a lesser degree in our country, people delegate part of the relationship forming process to others by allowing friends, family, and dating sites or shows to play matchmaker. Though in general, in America the person who would be in the relationship is more involved, and has to worry about handling some of the details. In India, culture is more dependent on family structure so marriage is just as much about forming ties between families as the couple itself, which is part of the reason why the family is so involved in these
Female identity from time immemorial is linked to the men in a woman’s life. Till her marriage her identity remains to be her fathers and after getting married she is identified as her husband’s. This is the reason why women change their surname to her husband’s after marriage. Even the Indian ancient text like the Manusmriti holds the view that Girls are supposed to be in the protection of their father when they are children, women must be under the protection of their husband when married and under the protection of her son as widows. In no situations is she allowed to take independent decisions herself.
Honor killings have become very common in Pakistan especially in Sindh and in tribal areas of Pakistan. In Pakistan hundreds of women are killed every year in the name of honor. Such a cruel custom has existed in our country from so many years. Honor killings are common in all over the country, though in some areas the incidents of honor killings have taken a shockingly high amount of incidents in recent years. In Azad Kashmir a mother helped her husband in killing their 15 year old daughter because they saw her talking to a young man. They killed her by dousing her acid. Her elder sister was not in favor of this custom and she was very anxious about that crime which her parents had committed. She demanded justice and police investigation for her sister but all went in vain because it was done in the name of so called ‘honour’. Our state also goes after the satisfaction of honor in foreign policy. Our society has become so cruel under the involuntarily accepted conduct guideline of the Taliban. The people who are killed in the name of honor are mostly women.
In today’s globalized world, women’s studies is emerging as a fast growing discipline which is not restricted any more to the academia but is significantly capturing the attention of the civil society. The way civil society responded to “Nirbhaya” gang-rape case of December, 2012 in Delhi; the way people came on the streets in protest against this horrific and barbarous crime committed against a 23 year old woman; this people’s movement has undoubtedly engineered the emergence of a new consciousness among us about the need for a realization of women’s honour and dignity in the society. There have been serious debates on the issue of whether more stringent laws (in the line of Shari’a law) be implemented in our Indian society so that such heinous crimes against women can be prevented. However, the aforesaid incident is only one among many hundred other such crimes happening everyday in almost every corner of the globe. Many such incidents of crime are either suppressed or do not come to limelight. The following analysis is a humble attempt to deal with the status of women (especially in Islam) in a globalized world.
Many of the marriages in India are arranged. While the tradition is becoming less and less popular, parents will often search to find the right partner for their children. It is not just two people getting married,
Amanda Hitchcock. 2001. “Rising Number of Dowry Deaths in India.” Annual Editions: Anthropology 11/12, 34th Edition. Elvio Angeloni. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
At this stage it is important to highlight that the South Asian community is characterized by vast diversity and complex nature. The members of the group are heterogeneous with respect to their cultural norms and religious inclinations (Khan, 2000). The sheer rapid growth in the size of this community calls for researchers and practitioners to explore and develop a better understanding of how these women folk face and experience violence in the context of being a sub-group in