Religiously Motivated Violence Against Women

Crimes committed against women because they are not following religious doctrines are increasing at an alarming rate in Iraq, reports AlterNet: “Violence against women is rampant, rising every day with the power of the militias. Beheadings, rapes, beatings, suicides through self-immolation, genital mutilation, trafficking and child abuse masquerading as marriage of girls as young as nine are all on the increase.” The voices inside Iraq who are speaking out against this violence are themselves threatened with death.

The increase of this violence is related to the increasing influence of religious fundamentalists but also the disempowerment of men. And the violence is mostly tolerated by the authorities who are just as intimidated by the violence as the rest of the population, despite some arrests. Unfortunately, honor killings are not limited to Iraq. The UN estimates that about 5,000 women and girls are murdered each year for some sort of honor violation.

PZ Myers blogged about one of the latest “honor killings” in Basra: The brutal murder of a 17-year-old student who dared to talk to a British soldier. He points out three tragedies:

One is these ‘men’ who have had their minds corrupted by a foul religion.

The greatest is Rand Abdel-Qader herself, murdered for an infatuation.

The third is one only briefly mentioned: the mother.

I see a few more tragedies:

• This violence is increasing in Iraq.
• The (US trained?) police congratulates the murderers instead of arresting them.
• Nobody in the US is held accountable for unleashing this brutality.

Comment #23 raises some interesting and valid points: Although this is an especially brutal murder, violence against women is not restricted to Islam or any religion, really. Religions are often used to justify such violence by creating an ideological framework also known as patriarchy.