“Alongside the brutal public terrorism that fills the television screens, there is an equally cruel form of terrorism that gets almost no attention and thrives as a result: flinging acid on a woman’s face to leave her hideously deformed,” Nicholas Kristof wrote. Since 1994, a woman activist in Pakistan “has documented 7,800 cases of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area,” Kristof wrote. “In only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted.” One thing that can be done about this is to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, which Kristof said would adopt a range of measures to spotlight such brutality and nudge foreign governments to pay heed to it. “That might help end the silence and culture of impunity surrounding this kind of terrorism,” he wrote. If you have the stomach, watch Kristof’s video about this terrorism.
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27 Comments
“Woman is the nigger of the world”..John Lennon said it best.
The sex trade, pornography, arranged marriages, honor killings, female circumcision..women will always be considered the property of men as long as men are in charge and cultures refuse to change.
Some crimes are so shocking and hard to even understand that there is a real question as to what can be done? This is one of those, the intent is to disfigure that is simple enough to understand. Sounds like something a ex-husband would do to make their ex-wife unattractive to other men. But is it the husbands doing this? I hear of this happening in Afghanistan and it was the Taliban doing it to women refusing to wear a cover over their face. But there is no logical reason for such a crime or the other crimes that Mary has listed.
“If you have the stomach, watch Kristof’s video about this terrorism.”
I DON’T have the stomach for it. I have never understood sadistic cruelty.
Perhaps in her role as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton can advance the cause of women in ways that Condi Rice never tried to.
How about forcing all us poor men to pay for sex and pose in porn movies? Aren’t the men in those situations equally exploited? I also think you’ll find that marriages are arranged for both sexes. Males are circumcised also M.C., and the practice is proven to be detrimental to their sexual pleasure.
I think you are exhibiting a double standard.
Acid attacks are crimes and should treated as such.
beber there is a big difference between male circumcision and female circumcision. If male circumcision was like female circumcision than the male penis would be completely cut off! The goal of female circumcision is to completely take away any pleasure from sex. Removing the nerve ends so they are not there to be stimulated.
beber, your comparison is beyond laughable.
International feminism is truly the most important human rights cause worldwide, because if women have political and legal standing, the economic and stability of a society improves greatly. The enslavement of women by just plain stupid tribal societies that confuse their most idiotic traditions with their religion, the enslavement of women (and children!) around the world for sex trafficing industries (including in this country, but especially in the Far and Near East), and the poverty and property status of women in parts of Africa which is part of the reason for the virulent spread of AIDS through Africa.
Poor men who have to pay for sex? Give me a break. Poor men in the porn industries, well, in the high end porn industries, it is true that it is the women who now command the dollars and, increasingly, are running the industry, but…hardly a human rights crisis. The status of women, including the moronic customs of punishing women for the inability of the men of their cultures to control themselves with acid burns and “honor killing”, IS a genuine crisis.
Well, I agree with everyone who dissed me mostly, but remember the women themselves are often compliasant in the mutilations.
And are you telling me a porn star with a six figure income is exploited? Bullshit.
“And are you telling me a porn star with a six figure income is exploited? Bullsh*t.”
First of all, how do you get the full BS word through on your posts. Mine are withheld when I try to do it (which is annoying because it is a perfectly good word, particularly as moral philosopher Harry Frankfurt uses it).
Secondly, did you not read my post? I was certainly not saying that the women with six and, for that matter, a few have seven figure incomes, are exploited by the businesses that they run.
On the other hand, I was talking about the high end of the industry where women like Jenna Jameson run things and command the top saleries. There is also a low end of the industry that involves the use of slave labor. There, the women ARE exploited. But then, they are slaves, and aren’t even making four figures. People like the late Andrea Dworkin tried to make the point that one contributed to the other. However, I don’t think that necessarily has to be true.
Agreed. It’s a nasty old world.
Many feminist groups have supported this throughout the years, as well as other international laws that target abuse of women in particular in various regions of the world. Unbelievably, I have people who will bring these kind of things to me, people who have criticized feminists groups, and they say “why aren’t you doing anything about this if you care about women so much”. And when I tell them that feminists DO care and work on these issues, and that we need them to ALSO call and support these legislations, then they him haw around about what stupid reasons they can come up with not to.
I get sick of it. This is the right thing to do- so do it. Get your email open and call for the support of these legislations.
The other thing I get as a feminist is ’see you don’t have it so bad here, you should be thankful’. While yes, we have come a considerably farther way than some countries, we do still have our own issues to deal with. Sexism is pervasive throughout our nation as well, even though it may not be as outwardly apparent. By the way, its sexist to say we should be happy with what we’ve got now. Equality isn’t contingent upon how bad someone else has it.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/international-violence-against-women-act/page.do?id=1051201
P.S. I think we can all agree there’s a big difference between Jenna Jameson and a 16-year-old being held in a foreign country without a passport.
An interesting awareness, but those people have strange laws and customs in the first place.
Also their forms and levels of education are deeply rooted in their type of beliefs in religion and their social class within their society.
How do you take the reaction of violence out of man?
This has been the battle since the beginnings of mankind, even Jesus, Yahweh of Judaism and Christianity has failed mankind in this conquest.
Jesus Christ – the greatest liberator of women that has ever stepped onto the face of the earth .. Jesus didn’t fail .. we fail
Comparing the so called female circumcision to the male version is totally off base and reflects the common ignorance of what the practice actually is.
A better way to think of it is having your penis removed by some guy in a back alley without anesthesia using whatever non surgical tools he has available. The female circumcision removes the clitoris.
well, Jesus aint liberating these women today, nor are they liberated in many groups who profess to love Jesus, such as the FLDS, certain evangelical groups, and catholic groups. So in the meanwhile, why don’t you help physically.
Phil, Phil, Phil, my goodness apparently you haven’t received your latest Left wing memo about how ALL things Muslim are Wonderful.
You know you are NOT to disparage ANY of their prehistoric practices. No pictures of this mohammed clown, no questioning of their stated goal of taking over the entire West and making us bow down to them and place us in Dhimmitude.
How dare you question these practices, you know that your friends in the MSM wouldnt dare tell the truth about Islam less the local populace rise up and very simply dispose of it before it becomes a cancer on OUR society, like is has in Europe and England.
Just so you and they are informed….we are watching, and when the time comes it will be dealt with in a like manner.
Such a sad, sad situation. And of course the NYT columnist thinks that somehow the US Congress will pass legislation that will make a difference.
Perhaps Biden will use all those years of so-called foreign policy experience to figure out that he is the number 2 guy setting the policy now. The bill in Congress smells of political grandstanding. But what else would you expect from a professional politician? Without these problems they wouldn’t have anything to get their base voters out in force on election day. If they actually fixed the problem it would be of no use to them anymore. Just look at how more blacks are in poverty now than before the civil rights act and the so-called war on poverty.
So we shall wait and see if the new administration will do something besides wave their gums.
mrbill
Posted December 6, 2008 at 3:44 pm | Permalink
DNFTST
Some years back, my son had a school friend from Pakistan, as thoroughly Americanized a kid as you can imagine. When he turned 16, his parents announced that he was going to marry his 8yr-old cousin. I asked him how he felt about that, and he glared at me and said “She’s 8 years old and butt-ugly! How do you think I feel?”
When he told his father, a local psychiatrist, that he wouldn’t go through with it, his father had him committed to a private mental hospital and kept him locked up there until he finally agreed to go through with it.
Arranged marriages are invariably about family political power and wealth. Love has nothing to do with it. So, while spousal abuse happens in all cultures, it is particularly vicious where marriages are arranged by families, and family honor and reputation is at stake.
“MSM wouldn’t dare tell the truth about Islam” Then how do you know about it, Joker? Just keep trotting out the cheap cliches, it’s all your good at, I guess.
The Eagle mentions violence against woman, and you think it is time for a diatribe against news organizations.
It was the “MSM”(CNN) that informed me of the terrors of the Tailban several years before the New York attacks. That is one of the reasons I did not oppose the invasion of Afghanistan.
“Just look at how more blacks are in poverty now than before the civil rights act and the so-called war on poverty.” -ProudMan
This is simply untrue. http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/PovRace.gif
You Jokers will make up anything to reinforce your conviction that America is powerless to help improve the human condition.
Graph from: http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Stats_incpov.html
Oh..This morning I left out the fact that China forces women to have abortions against their will, sometimes even causing the death of the mother. Amazing we buy eagerly their products and send them our jobs when they have possibly the worst human rights abuses in the world. But we still can’t buy a Cuban cigar!
I agree Mary. I absolutely hate Chinese practices of human rights violations. and our people just keep buying buying buying.
DavidB,
I did look back at what I thought was the source of my quote about blacks and found I recalled it wrong. What it did say is that the poverty rate was falling faster before the Civil Rights Act than after it. Looking at your own source graph the poverty rate among blacks has more or less remained constant since 1970. So one would be lead to believe that somehow the trend was reversed and this has kept more blacks in poverty.
This just adds a data point to prove that politicians have no interest in actually solving a problem. Only identifying it, applying a so-called solution, and then use fear of it to rally voters to the polls.
Thanks for providing data to help substantiate my point.
We’ve come a long way but these examples are proof that there is so much yet to overcome.
I find it sad that many of today’s young women don’t understand the need for feminism and don’t seem to see how women in most cultures are still considered less than. A little history lesson could go a long way in educating many.
Mary, you bring up an excellent point. Female infanticide is rampant in China and India…only male babies are worthy of being born.
I still hope for the daen of a matriarchal society.