Factors that Lead to 'Honor' Killings and their Psychological Efects

The culturally ingrained attitudes and social factors toward the traditional roles of men and women, as well as the views of women’s virginity and fidelity, which I have explained previously, have and continue to lead people to commit ‘honor’ killings in certain societies. These values combined with the presence of the relatively condoned practice, depending on the region or country, leads to the perpetuation of its occurrence. There is often immense social pressure within a family or a community which leads people to continue to enforce these codes of behavior either through killing someone in the name of ‘honor’, acting as a compliant, or enforcing gender roles in symbolic or structural ways on an everyday basis. ‘Honor’ killings, however, act as the most pervasive deterrent for modes of behavior that are considered unacceptable. In any society, sometimes men and women who feel as though they don’t fit into the prescribed gender roles of their culture will use certain tools or means to ‘prove’ to society and themselves that they belong to these roles. Men who may feel unsure about their gender or ‘masculine’ identity in societies where ‘honor’ killings occur, may be more likely to commit ‘honor’ killings as a means of demonstrating their dominance and trying to show that they fit in.(Gadit & Patel 2002: 688) Most often, however, those who commit ‘honor’ killings are often the younger brothers or relatives of a woman, because minors receive lesser sentences, and this is usually something that is forced on them.

            The psychological effects of the occurrence of ‘honor’ killings are very detrimental. The presence of this violent practice induces a great deal of fear and many burdens on women, as they are most often the victims. It threatens the safety, physical, and mental health of women, as ‘honor’ killings not only work as a mode of social control, but a fear tactic, creating an environment of anxiety and risk. (Gadit & Patel 2002: 691) A four-year study at the University Psychiatry Department at Karachi, Pakistan, found that 66% of their psychiatric patients were female, of whom 70% had been victims of violence and 80% had struggled with domestic conflicts. (Gadit & Patel 2002: 691) Children who have bore witness to or are aware of their mothers, sisters, or other relatives being victims of ‘honor’ killings, are often incredibly traumatized, and face an increased risk for behavioral issues, substance abuse, and/or repeating the cycle of ‘honor’ killings. (Gadit & Patel 2002: 692) This is an important example of how cultural values can construct a mindset. In this case, the effects of the mindset can be very serious indeed, and act to perpetuate very fearful notions

 

Gadit, Amin Muhammad, and Sujay Patel

Transcultural Psychiatry

2008 Karo-Kari: A Form of Honour Killing in Pakistan. Electronic Document, http://tps.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/4/683, accessed February 22.

Recent News and Developments in Response to 'Honor' Killings

Recently, according to academic Taira Khan, there has been an upward trend in the number of ‘honor’ killings “’all over the Muslim world where honour killings were occurring before.’” (Lexington, 2003: 69) The reasons that these acts of violence are occurring more in the Muslim world may in part be due to increasing cultural tensions between the West and the Middle East. Not only has the United States exerted control and strict foreign policies on the area we refer to as the Middle East, but also the globalization of Western culture has sparked many changing opinions of the roles of women, and thus culture clashes have been ignited. More women in societies where ‘honor’ killings occur are rejecting arranged marriages and are breaking out of the strict roles that have been defined for them. (Lexington, 2003: 69) These changes, on top of the anger and frustration many in the Middle East have felt due to their marginalized political and cultural status, as well as suffering economies has caused some to rethink how they should be living. Looking back on the time of the Prophet Muhammad’s original Muslim community or the Golden Ages of the Islamic world, some believe that reverting to traditionalism or fundamentalism will solve the problems that Westernization has brought. Certain interpretations of Islam condone ‘honor’ killings, which would explain the rise in the occurrence of ‘honor’ killings in this part of the world.

            If there can a blessing in disguise from the rise in ‘honor’ killings, it is that more ‘honor’ crimes are being reported. It is estimated that around 40% of ‘honor’ based violence are reported, which leaves 60% of victims who either are not aware of their rights, or are too afraid to speak out or seek help. ( Lexington, 2003: 69) Another positive byproduct of the rise in ‘honor’ killings is the increased awareness in societies where they occur as well as in the rest of the world, which means the world might take steps to end ‘honor’ killings. The obvious and terrible consequence to the rise in ‘honor’ based violence is that more people are being killed. However, another very worrisome spin-off of this is that some men are beginning to kill a female relative in order to over up the real reason he has killed another man, saying that he had found them in a compromising position, in what are now know as fake ‘honor’ killings. (Lexington 2003: 69)

            In all of the countries where ‘honor’ killings occur, the practiced has been outlawed. The Pakistani government outlawed it in 1999. Atiyya Mehmud, the human rights director at the Foreign Office, stated that the practice stemmed from the economic hardship experienced by the country and also argued that it was “’contrary to the precepts of Islamic law.’” (Lexington 1999: 43). Unfortunately, the Pakistani government, as well as many others, failed to implement most of the laws that would protect women and keep ‘honor’ killings form occurring. (Lexington 1999: 43) The state government still gives local unofficial authorities the autonomy to carry out their own laws. Men that do get convicted for carrying out ‘honor’ killings, serve very minimal sentences. There have been small movements carried out by opening women’s shelters and safe houses. (Loewenstein 2001: 2) These steps, though very powerful, are still very small.

 Lexington

2003 Pakistan: Honour Killings of Women Constantly Increasing. Women’s International Network, Electronic Document, http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=592582411&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientld=42576&RQT=309&VName=PQD, accessed February 22, 2009.

 

Lexington

1999 Pakistan: Government Takes Stand on Honor Killings. Women’s International Network, Electronic Document, http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=59257244&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientld=42576&RQT=309&VName=PQD, accessed February 22, 2009

 

Loewensein, Jennifer

2001 Feminist Collections.Women in Islam. Vol. 22, Iss. 3-4: 15-16

 

Shedding Cultural Stereotypes in Regards to 'Honor' Killings

I have focused my attention on ‘honor’ killings in Pakistani societies, because that is where I found the most documented cases to have occurred. (Lexington, 2003: 69) This in no way means that ‘honor’ killings only occur in Pakistan or within the Muslim world. Similar forms of violence, namely towards women, occurred and evolved in ancient Babylon, South and Meso-America, and in the Roman Empire. These types of violence involved the ideas that a woman’s virginity or fidelity belonged to her family, and when that was violated, they had the right to kill her. Today, ‘honor’ killings still occur in countries such as Brazil, Albania, Iraq, India, Uganda, and Morocco, as well as within immigrant communities in other countries, even though they have been explicitly outlawed in all of these places. (Gadit & Patel, 2008: 684)

            One of the most famous cases of ‘honor’ killings in Sweden was the murder of a young woman named Fadime by her father. She very openly refused to marry the man who had been selected for her, and brought charges of threatening behavior against her father and brother in the Swedish courts. These actions brought a great deal of public shame and humiliation to her family, which she acknowledged during the trials in 1998. She was later killed by her father. It is important to note however, that Fadime’s parents were Roman Catholics, not Muslims. This put the situation into a different light in the Swedish public debate as Islam had been very much associated with ‘honor’ killings in people’s mindsets. (Hellgren & Hobson, 2008: 392)

            In yet another Swedish case, a young man with an immigrant background was killed by the family of the young woman he had wanted to marry, but whose marriage had already been arranged. This terrible situation challenged the notions of that ‘honor’ related violence means, as it is generally thought of as a form of violence against women, which is not always the case. It is often forgotten, in my mind for one, that gender equality includes the rights of both men and women. It is not always a one-sided issue. Human rights should embrace all. (Hellgren & and Hobson, 2008: 396)

            Men, inhabiting the dominant role in most societies, maintain power through such acts as ‘honor’ killings in certain societies, it is also important to look at the ways in which women can take on roles to perpetuate violence, whether symbolic or not, and structural inequalities. While not actually carrying out the acts of violence, women in societies or families where ‘honor’ killings occur often work to perpetuate and reinforce certain practices and codes of behaviors. (Hellgren & Hobson, 2008: 390)

 

Gadit, Amin Muhammad, and Sujay Patel

Transcultural Psychiatry

2008 Karo-Kari: A Form of Honour Killing in Pakistan. Electronic Document, http://tps.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/4/683, accessed February 22.

 

Hellgren, Zenia, and Barbara Hobson

2008 Cultural Dialogues in the Good Society: The case of honour killings in Sweden. Ethnicities 8(3): 385-400. http://etn.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/3/385

 

Lexington

2003 Pakistan: Honour Killings of Women Constantly Increasing. Women’s International Network, Electronic Document, http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=592582411&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientld=42576&RQT=309&VName=PQD, accessed February 22, 2009.

Culture Clashes in Sweden vs. Immigrant Communities

As with many immigrant or refugee communities residing in foreign countries, the customs, traditions, and mindsets of the immigrant peoples can differ very drastically from those of the host country. Different cultures have different value systems and most often, each culture believes their value system is the ‘right’ one, or the most ‘superior’ one, because it makes the most sense to them. When immigrants reside in a foreign host country, they abide by that country’s system of law in order to become a citizen, and to obtain access to jobs and education. In this way they take on the values of the host country to a certain extent, while usually maintaining their own cultural autonomy. As children of immigrants are socialized in and receive education and/or job training in the host country, they tend adopt and accept the culture and values of the host country much more so than their parents and grandparent’s generations did. This can and has caused many generational and multicultural gaps and tensions. In Sweden, for example, where gender equality and human rights have come very far and are at the core of the country’s profile, many clashes have occurred between the dominant society and immigrant communities whose value systems and cultures differ immensely from their own. Several ‘honor’ killings have occurred within immigrant communities in Sweden in the recent past, and have caused quite a public debate and has caused a reflection on the true meanings of respect, human rights, and multiculturalism. These acts have been interpreted by mainstream Swedish society as either expressions of men’s violence toward women or that they reflected patriarchal cultural practices. (Hellgren & Hobson, 2008: 385, 393)

            First and foremost the secular Swedish legal system is an individualized justice system, and does not consider religious tradition a plausible defense for murder. Many groups and organizations within Swedish society have actively promoted multiculturalism and feminism, but through a somewhat narrow and cultural relativistic view, as many did and still do not understand why ‘honor’ killings and specific gender roles and expectations within the immigrant groups where ‘honor’ killings have occurred, make sense. There is a tendency for the Swedes to view their own society and mindset as more enlightened, just, and less bound by culture as opposed to say, a rural Pakistani society, where the norms and expectations are much different from their own.

            Sweden has the most open immigration system in Europe. Immigrants have very little trouble accessing formal legal rights, however informally, many groups are still treated in a second class manner. For a country which values individualism, many in Swedish society still view immigrant communities as possessing very distinctive group identities, and generally do not investigate individual values within communities. In fact, the group identity, which is created by both Swedes and the immigrant communities, carries a stigma. Due to these culture clashes and as of recently, absent debate issues, most immigrant communities still lack a strong political voice to defend their traditions in the face of hostilities toward ‘honor’ killings. Obvious problems have resulted from the fact that many organizations that exist to help immigrant communities have been created for, not by, the immigrant communities themselves. (Hellgren & Hobson, 2008: 388) Those immigrant organizations that had been formed by immigrant communities, were harshly criticized by then prime minister, Goran Persson, for not playing a more active role to prevent ‘honor’ killing from occurring and for not having more women represented on their executive boards. Imposing their own views on what ‘should’ be, was the main course that was taken as a means for a solution by the Swedish government and societies, instead of including these immigrant organizations in the policy-making process. (Hellgren & Hobson, 2008: 393)

            In response to the public outrage over several cases of ‘honor’ killings, the immigrant communities in which they occurred sought to distance themselves from the acts, and emphasizing that they were private family acts, that did not reflect their collective cultural beliefs. These ‘honor’ killings had occurred within Kurdish and Pakistani families. Many from these communities stated that because their cultures had been so marginalized, due to lack of education and recognition, and consistent oppression, that specific families created their own rules and values, which do not reflect their culture as a whole. These values reflect the fact that in the face of marginalization, ‘honor’ is often the only thing a family can realistically strive for in life. (Hellgren & Hobson, 2008: 393) It has proven difficult for Sweden to open up to dialogues addressing culture conflicts to face these issues, because it challenges Sweden’s self and international image as the ‘good society’, which embodies gender equality and human rights. (Hellgren & Hobson, 2008: 398)

Hellgren, Zenia, and Barbara Hobson

2008 Cultural dialogues in the good society: The case of honor killings in Sweden. Ethnicities 8(3): 385-400. http://etn.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/3/385

'Honor' Killings Mirrored in our own Culture

‘Honor’ killings, being an extreme form of social control, are very foreign to a Westerner looking through their own cultural lens at this practice. It is so easy to condemn it as a completely backwards practice that violates basic human rights and reinforces patriarchal values, with the blind assumption that nothing in our own culture mirrors ‘honor’ killings.

            In the United States, we have our own forms of social control for women, which are based around our culture’s dominant perception of ‘honor’. Each family has different values, but their values are always shaped around, by, or in response to the values of our, or any, popular culture. Generally, women and especially young unmarried girls are still viewed as embodying the honorable values of her family and society, and remember, ‘Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice.’ The importance of a girl’s or woman’s virginity, chastity, and loyalty is still a widespread view of the way things should be in our society, although that view is slowly changing, and varies widely. Girls and women who engage in pre-marital sex, extra-marital affairs, or get divorced, are seen as possessing more power than is socially acceptable, which scares many who adhere to the cultural status quo where women have expected and often limited roles and duties. They are often labeled, either consciously or subconsciously by many, inherently as a harlet, who has completely disregarded their gift of virtue. Respect can be lost for a woman. She may be kicked out of the house, shunned, or viewed in a light of digust by her family and peers, experiencing a social death. It confronts many people’s understanding of societal norms where men are the head of the family, the boss at work, and the leaders of our nation. To clarify, this is obviously not the case everywhere in the United States, but I would say these ideas are still part of the dominant American mindset, whether one holds fast to them or not. The traditional roles of men and women in our culture, as well as our understandings of virtue and ‘honor’ are constructed by and reinforced by Judeo-Christian traditions and beliefs just as in parts of Pakistan ‘honor’ killings are justified by a particular interpretation of Islam.

Another social control is the immense social pressure to look and act in certain ‘feminine’ ways. The idea that women are property is represented through many cultural rites and symbols that remain constant today. Some of these symbolic practices include a father giving away his daughter at her wedding ceremony. This symbolizes when brides were literally given away to her husband’s family or exchanged for some monetary value. Rights or guardianship over the daughter would be transferred from her father to her husband. Women in our culture either experience violence or a least the threat of violence toward them as yet another form of social control. This threat deters women from being able to experience certain types of freedoms, like walking down the street alone at night. The combination of the pressure to live up to social ideals, our cultural perceptions of ‘honor’, women as property represented through prevalent symbols, and the threat of violence against women all act as deterrents and serve to shape the way women act and the ways in which they are viewed. We tend to think our culture is superior in terms of gender relations until we really take a look at the underlying complexities of the things we are familiar with, but never realize or think about. We may not refer to them as ‘honor’ killings, but they most definitely occur here, whether they take the form of actual murder or a social death. While restrictive or negative views toward women, or anything for that matter remains, the capacity to act on those beliefs in order to maintain control will always be there in any society.

Killer Culture

'Honor' and Logic