Comments on: Terrorism Against Women in Pakistan

By: Lexi

Lexi — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:40:32 +0000

It seems like an extreme example of some men’s sense of entitlement to women’s bodies. It isn’t just an Islam thing. It isn’t just a religious thing. It is pretty prevalent throughout the world. Because of religion it may be showing up in a more extreme way. The only difference between this, and the sexual harassment that you might see in an American office is the orders of magnitude of obvious harm.

By: Brian Macker

Brian Macker — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:03:56 +0000

Snark, motivated by the idea we are responsible for the Sunni/Shia split and how they treat each other. In fact blaming us for their behavior only encourages it. They both get to blow up their enemies mosque and claim we are responsible. How perverse is that.

Very similar to the honor killings that have happened in the US. He had to chop of her head lest she be corrupted by US culture, a.k.a. kafir culture.

By: Brian Macker

Brian Macker — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:55:32 +0000

Hey, if only the US hadn’t, what written the constitution, this wouldn’t be happening. Because like Muslim’s aren’t responsible for their own actions. When they get angry it’s, like, hey man, somebody else’s oppression at fault.

Don’t forget, defense against Islamic motivated Muslim attacks is a sign of Islamaphobia. European behavior is never in reaction to Muslim activities. Even up to an including the armed invasion of Europe, and taking of slaves directly from the shores of Britain in the 19th century.

Because, you see, any bad act by non-Europeans is fully explained by colonialism, whereas, the several thousand years of invasions from the east of Europe, from Asia, the Mediterranean, etc. count for nothing in explaining European behavior.

By: BlueRidgeLady

BlueRidgeLady — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:37:35 +0000

I know it may be a bit pedantic but I feel that while the pictures do need a warning that they are graphic in the sense of unusual (and I would put the same warning on any medical pictures), I don’t think it warrants the same NSFW warning that other things do. There is nothing inherently vulgar or offensive about these womens’ faces. I think we should recognize how brave these women are for allowing their pictures to be taken. The whole point of acid throwing is to dehumanize, degrade, and “ruin”. In some of these cultures, not finding a husband means a very, very hard time for some of the women and that is no doubt a factor. For them to stand up to that after the barbaric attacks is brave.
This is done to female CHILDREN as well. There have been acid attacks against girls for the egregious offense of attending school.

By: Two percent « The Word Warrior

Two percent « The Word Warrior — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:00:47 +0000

[...] Posted on November 23, 2009 by Bento That’s the percentage of the 7,800 acid attacks against women in Afghanistan have been successfully [...]

By: Revyloution

Revyloution — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:54:44 +0000

Religion might not be the cause, but it is the reason the men in these states aren’t being charged with any crimes. If these crimes were committed in a country with a secular government, the men doing these crimes would be in jail.

By: absent sway

absent sway — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:50:36 +0000

I’m with MutantJedi and Allytude on this one. I wouldn’t rule out religion being a factor, but there’s probably a more complex cocktail of factors at play. I find it difficult to believe that the experiences of women in Pakistan are so uniform as to make it realistic to point to religion (also not uniform there) as the direct vehicle for this. I could see religious extremists with political power as an obstruction to justice in these cases, though; maybe something more along those lines but I need more information. There are plenty of liberal Muslims in Pakistan, and look at the incredible popular support that Benazir Bhutto had there, for instance. I imagine that justice for these victims depends quite a bit on who is in power, and if the state is corrupt then how would a public outcry short of revolution accomplish much besides more violence?

By: Allytude

Allytude — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:34:17 +0000

I would not entirely call this an Islamic thing. Acid-attacks are a South Asian phenomenon. India,Bangladesh , Pakistan, Afghanistan, even Cambodia are equal offenders. I think the patriarchal structure of the society coupled with poverty, treating women as second class objects to be owned, helped on perhaps by the tenets of fundamentalist misogynist religions or misogynist followers of religions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing

By: Two percent « The Word Warrior

Two percent « The Word Warrior — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:46:14 +0000

[...] Two percent Posted on November 22, 2009 by Bento That’s the percentage of prosecution for the 7,800 reported cases of acid attacks on Afghani women. [...]

By: Pseudonym

Pseudonym — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:10:11 +0000

Muggle, thank you for your story. I think you did the right thing.

But I have to, in all honesty, disagree with you about fundamentalists. Christian extremists are called “fundamentalists” because they believe that they are in the same tradition that published the Fundamentals pamphlet series in the early 20th century. Other religious extremists are called “fundamentalists” by analogy. To my knowledge, exactly none of them actually believe or practice all of the fundamentals of their respective religions. They pick and choose just as much as as everyone else; they just refuse to admit it.

On a historical note, this kind of vendetta behaviour (along with all of the other barbaric things that you occasionally hear come out of deepest darkest Pakistan) is precisely the sort of thing that Sharia law was supposed to replace.

MutantJedi: I agree. I’m reminded of Queen Rania of Jordan and her strong activism against so-called “honour killings”.