In the wake of the recent wife killing incident in Buffalo, NY, I found this scholarly piece particularly enlightening. I hope that our law enforcement officials are reading it. It outlines some of the major differences between what we usually call "domestic violence" and what would be referred to, in certain subsets of our population as "honor killing."
Let's get clear about this.....
"Honor Killings" are premeditated acts of cold blooded murder. They often take place within families in which several members are involved in their planning and execution. They are particularly gruesome, in that they tend to involve hours of torture leading up to the actual murder. There is nothing "second degree" about them.
I appreciate that "The New Agenda" is calling for agents of the law to explore these distinctions. I think Dr. Socks hits the nail on the proverbial head with this statement:
"It does us no good to paper over the distinctions; on the contrary, we need to study our subject closely to understand how best to expose and combat each variation. We must be like doctors fighting disease, seeking to identify precisely the pathogens involved."
If U.S. women can't get some help from law enforcement in this matter, we may be forced to take matters into our own hands, by donning pink saris and carrying big sticks!
I actually love pink. Wear it all the time! And I have a few big sticks here as well. Who is with me?
SYD
On edit, I'll just add that it's no wonder they want to take Sarah and Kirsten's guns away. Geesh!
Posts
For starters, that photo is awesome. Sampat Pal is practically Balsa from the Moribito series [nerd-alert]. Apart from that, the Gulabi Gang really demonstrates the various types of excellent feminist action that can be found across the globe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for blogging on this important issue syd.
ReplyDelete