Zainab Salbi's 475: Break The Silence

This national best seller can relate to the opinions expressed by Peggy Reeves Sanday in The Socio-Cultural Context of Rape. Sandy investigates the characteristics of a rape-prone, and rape-free society. Jon Krakauer was interviewed by NPR books, where he stated, “The upshot was most rapists walked away without any punishment, any accountability” (NPR 1). The response from Krakauer correlates to Sanday’s research in The Socio-Cultural Context of Rape. Reeves Sanday writings examine, “When men discovered that they could rape, they proceeded to do it” (Reeves Sanday

Brooks uses the sources to bring the thesis together and to help get her point across about the oppression of Islamic women and the pride and power of their male figures. An Islamic law states that women are not to commit adultery, but their husband can have more than one wife. When Brooks learned the story of Rehab and Mohamed and how Mohamed left Rehab for Fatima, it really opened her eyes on how different the treatment of married women of the Islamic world.

The article by Meetoo and Miraz define extreme forms of domestic violence, which often lead to the death of a woman at the hands of her loved ones or community. Interestingly, "honour" only arises as a motivation for murder when religion or ethnic communities are involved. In the article, the author asserts that ethicized women (women of colour and other minorities) who are victims of honour killings are unrecognized in both multicultural discussion and domestic violence discussion. Since 9/11, these women have become much more visible, but unfortunately this increased recognition is due to a heightened sense of fear and danger associated with the idea of a "Muslim alien 'other'". By employing an approach focused more on human rights, people

Ali Owens wrote this article to convince readers that rape culture is a very real and harmful thing that silences victims and allows criminals to run free. Victims around the world are silenced because of a society that chooses to blame them for the acts committed against them. Today, rape culture is evident in how the police and society treat the situation. Owens provides examples of rape culture through scenarios that women often find themselves in and uses imagery to allow readers to feel as if they are watching them unfold. A woman hesitates to call an Uber and is accused of “unfairly judging men,” but then, political leaders, such as Donald Trump, tweet about the inevitable sexual assault in the military because “they put women and men together.” A woman is scared

“And what can one do?” (Gilman). Gilman’s question represents the women population of the world perfectly because what is one supposed to do, being disobedient is not taking lightly, seeing how the husband may have inflicted physical pain, on top of the already emotional pain that is being inflicted by not allowing the social contact that she desires. Situations similar to Jane’s can be directly correlated to those issues in the Muslim communities.

These “differences” that the Talib speaks of is one of main ways patriarchy is defended, since God made man and woman differently, the Afghan community assumes that they must be treated differently as well. Also, there must be one sex that is superior to the other then, many communities along with the Afghan community chose to place men above women due to sexist beliefs of the characteristics of a man which should be strong, confident, overbearing, and sex-driven and the characteristics of a woman which should be quiet, obedient, and nurturing. When the Talib mentions of how “we require only one male witness but two female ones”(Hosseini 324) in the court process, he reveals the extent to which patriarchal views are woven into the fabric of society, as far as the criminal justice process. For Mariam, this means that her chances of winning in court is very low since there was only one witness, another woman, Laila, so the court is less likely to believe or take into account Laila’s words. Religion impacts Mariam’s life by plaguing the minds of the courts and judges with her inferiority as a woman which inevitably leads to a flawed rationale rectifying her severe punishment as a result.

Concerning the social context, honor and respect are two significant values that the ‘hijab’ represents. By wearing the hijab, a woman is less likely to be attractive to men and being approached by them, she creates a ‘barrier’ that implements respect between her and another person, by consequent, she preserves her sexual chastity and keeps the family’s honor intact. This is an important detail in the Middle East culture; honor is more a group matter than an individual matter, and in this case, honor’s family is related to women’s sexual abstinence before marriage; in case the honor is lost, it can’t be regained.

The term rape is defined as an ‘unlawful sexual intercourse by force, and without legal or factual consent’ by Gennaro Vito, Jeffrey Maahs and Ronald Holmes (2006) in ‘Criminology: Theory, Research and Policy’ (Vito, Maahs, and Holmes, 2006: p. 280). Rape can be in the form of the penis penetrating the vagina, oral, anal and an assault using a foreign object. However, there have been many controversies of what is rape and the use of force that is required. Several researchers, practitioners, legal jurisdiction, as well as, a few rape statutes involving coercive rape rely on the use of force as part of evidence in their definition (Vito, Maahs, and Holmes, 2006: p. 280). Rape can occur both in men and women, however, most accounts of rape indicate that majority of men are perpetrators and women are the victims. This essay will discuss the gender differences of rape victims and the connection of feminist criminology and labelling theory, and stigmatisation; as followed with case studies that are relevant with both theories.

The researcher’s topic is, why would rape be the victim’s fault. This researcher believes rape is never the victim’s fault, no matter what the situation may be. They believe individuals are blind to the existing issues that are involved with rape. Rape may only be considered physical, but there are existing mental issues that come from the tragedy of being raped. Many women are attacked “verbally and through social media” with information stating that the circumstance was “her fault” (Nathman, 2013). After seeing and hearing these thoughts from the public the victim soon believes if they had not been in the situation they were in they would have not been raped. Though this is not the case and rape will happen no matter the place or the circumstance. The posts and verbal shouts put a toll on a womans mental well-being and how they recover from the incident. It is well known that many victims of rape soon become depressed and antisocial after they are rapped because they do not get the help they deserve (Nathman, 2013).

In the Frontline documentary, “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan” examines how Afghanistan struggle with child sexual slavery and human trafficking of young boy’s ages 5-15 for social and sexual entertainment that was once considered an ancient custom during the early 1800 called Bacha Bazi was subsequently banned under Taliban rule. Although is purported to be a widespread problem inducted by military commanders and wealthy men for power or economic gain as tradition, it is actually modern day pedophilia and child abuse. The Afghan criminal justice system makes it impossible to convict against these serious crimes primarily because quasi-legal regulation does not have legally binding weight since Islamic laws restrict human right freedoms,

Women and their children are in poverty and denied basic rights due to gender discrimination, domestic violence, religious beliefs, and illiteracy. A 2011 poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found Pakistan to be the third most dangerous country for women across the globe, citing more than 1,000 women and girls murdered in "honor killings" every year (Jamal 2011). 90 percent of Pakistani women were also found to be victims of domestic violence (Jamal 2011). Up until 2006, rape used to be under Islamic Law of Evidence where if the rape victim could not provide four male eyewitnesses to the crime in question, she could be severely punished (Ahmed 2008: 55). According to Pakistan’s National Commission on Status of Women in 2003, 80% of women in jail were there because “they had failed to prove rape charges and were consequently convicted of adultery” (Malik 2013).

Furthermore, humiliation is established through displaying acts of sexual violence publicly. Sexual activities are meant to be private because it exposes people’s privacy. When a woman is forced to commit a sexual act it is humiliating, it becomes magnified when it is done publicly. Many rapes occur publicly in front of family, friends and communities. An example of this is during the conflict in Bosnia- Herzegovina where Bosnian Muslim women were publicly shamed by rape, when they were dragged out of their houses and forced to commit sexual acts by Bosnian Serbs (Wood,

Lila Abu-Lughod is an American anthropologist whose work is focused around descriptive ethnography and mostly based in Egypt. Her work aims to tackled three main issues: the relationship between cultural forms and power; the politics of knowledge and representation; and the dynamics of gender and the question of women’s rights in the Middle East (Columbia). Lughod in her book Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? sets out to get rid of stereotypes that muslim women because of frequent ‘honor killings’ and the practice of veiling need to be rescued. She coins the term for the exploration of saving muslim women ‘Islamland.’ There is the perpetuating stereotype and dominant narrative that muslim women need saving and islam is a threatening

Rape and rape culture is a serious issue within the world we all live in today. What’s worse is men and women’s responses to rape, consequently promote ‘rape culture’ in society. The teachers statement was reflective of this problem and how societies perception and judgement of rape cases is far too tolerant. She is a woman, a wife and a stepmother to young girls, yet her comments only contribute to the “sweep it under the rug” attitude society holds for rape and rape culture. In her statement she indirectly validated the act

The future conditions of the woman’s potential marital worth were much poorer than any punishment the violator could have received. Once a woman was raped, her virginity was no longer available for her husband to have. “‘Virginity is the ornament of morals, the sanctity of the sexes, the peace of families and the source of the greatest friendships.’ Its existence was a precondition for marriage. To publicly breach it was to compromise honor, rank, even life; a ‘deflowered’ girl inevitably became a ‘lost’ girl. . . ‘The ravishing of virginity was the worst rape of all.’” (Cite Book 1) An innocent woman had now completely lost her worth to society and her own dignity due to a man’s egocentric and merciless actions.