Circumcision, Abuse, and Mutilation
What types of abuse do women face?
What is actually happening to women all over the world?
("About FGM")
(Doucleff)
("Honor Killings: A Global View")
What types of FGM are there? What types of abuse do women face?
FGM, abuse and honor killings
A lot of societies all over the world are plagued with problems like rape, domestic violence, and in some cases, honor killings. What could perhaps be considered the most extreme of these issues is honor killings. When a woman or young girl is murdered by her family for the purpose of renewing her family's "honor" it is considered an honor killing. Honor killings are practiced mainly by Muslim people. If a woman could be considered dishonorable, or has somehow brought shame to her family she is in danger. A woman could bring shame to her family by marrying a person whom her family has not arranged for her to marry, talking to men whom she is not instructed to talk to, dressing in a way that her family deems inappropriate, anything that a woman's family does not agree with or finds offensive could be a means to perform an honor killing (Mahmud). Rape and domestic violence are issues that many woman all over the world face. All types of abuse, whether towards children, females, or males is harmful.
Where is FGM and female abuse practiced?
The BIG question: Why is FGM and abuse towards females practiced?
Honor killings and abuse could occur for any reason. Honor killings are performed to renew a family's honor. These take places when people want to bring honor to their family. Some people try to justify honor killings by saying that they are condoned by their religion, or more specifically Sharia. This however, is not valid in a court of law (Mahmud). In a lot of Middle Eastern countries rape and domestic violence are a sign of power over women. Because women are not as valued in certain cultures, this allows things like rape and abuse to be overlooked. One reason for this being that Islamic laws condone such violence (Mahmud).