Vogue India's Campaign To End Abuse And Rape- Video

India has a major rape culture and domestic violence problem, and it's not just Muslims who are the perpetrators.  Vogue Empower is tackling the issue with the release of a short film titled "Boys Don't Cry."  Directed by Vinil Mathew of Bollywood fame, and produced by the Managing Director of Conde Nast India, Alex Kuruvilla, it focuses on how teaching young boys to not cry can eventually lead to violence as adults.

The hard-hitting film features an endless cycle of parents scolding their sons, from toddlers through adolescence, for crying. It then powerfully culminates in an image of a man holding back tears. The camera shot then pans out to unveil that he is converting his emotions into violence by physically abusing his already battered female partner.

At the end of the video, a woman says: “We have taught our boys not to cry. It’s time we teach them not to make girls cry,”

Kuruvilla was inspired to produce the film after a Susan Sarandon comment at the Goa Film Festival:

 “If you want to make a change, start with the boys.”

He said:

“The idea of the film is centered around the fundamental truth that women’s empowerment is not about women alone, which is why I pledged to create a short film that communicates clearly the need to change the mindset of boys before they become men."

[snip]

“When we teach young boys at an early age to not do something ‘like a girl’ – the distinction that what a girl does is insignificant is imprinted in the young boy’s mind. Growing up, when these boys don’t see eye to eye with their partners they feel the need to enforce their views through aggression.”

More on Vogue's attempt to empower women and educate the men.

Spanish Imam Who Called On Muslim Men To Beat Their Wives Under Investigation

There are obviously some rather evolved members of a mosque in Terrassa, Spain,  because after the local imam encouraged the congregants to "discipline" misbehaving wives through 'physical and psychological violence',  the police are now investigating this unnamed Muslim cleric.

According to police, the imam is under investigation for

“disseminating discriminatory messages and violating the principle of equality and of women’s right to physical and moral integrity."

Apparently, he instructed men on the best way to punish their spouses and

“ provided concrete examples of the manner in which wives should be beaten, how to isolate them inside the family home and how to deny them sexual relations.”

I'd be surprised if the imam received anything more than a reprimand, but at least there are some in that community who aren't buying into the 'it says you should beat your wife in the Quran, so it's okay' mentality, and reporting it to the authorities.

This isn't the first controversy, however, regarding Muslims in that country. Catalonia, where Terrassa is located, has had other troubles with its large Muslim immigrant population.  The last controversy was in Lerida, where dogs were turning up poisoned, and in 2010 an imam was charged for harassing a woman for not wearing a veil.

UPDATE 3/7

Moroccan, Abdeslam Laaroussi, was arrested for promoting violence against women.

According to police, Laaroussi told his followers that it was best to punch women or use a stick on different parts of their bodies "without breaking their bones or making them bleed".

The Catalan police force, subpoenaed the man to give a statement, after complaints were filed that he was trying to encourage gender violence.

While he refused to give a statement, he was charged after investigators found that his speeches and sermons contained elements that promote violence and discrimination.

Way to go, Catalonia! Some jail time will do the oaf some good.

Update- H/T Islam in Europe

Iraqi Women Want Equal Or Tougher Laws For Men In 'Honor Killings'

Gender equality in the Arab/Middle Eastern world is pretty much non-existent. Whether rooted in religion or culture, or a combination of both, females have never fared well in that region, especially when it comes to the law. So, some Iraqi women activists are trying to change that.

A group of female activists, headed by the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs Ibtihal al-Zaidi (al-Maliki's only female cabinet member), are trying to change Article 409 of Iraq's Penal Code. According to Zaidi, Article 409, which is the law applicable to 'honor killings', unfairly favors men. Even though killing someone can land the murderer the death penalty, 'honor killings' are handled differently.  For that, you just get jail time, but women will spend far more time in prison than men.

She [Zaidi] recounted the story of a 12-year-old Iraqi girl who killed her father after she saw him committing adultery. She was sentenced to 15 years in jail.

“If a man saw one of his female dependents committing adultery, how would he be punished? Six months and he’ll get out."

“A woman, even a 12-year-old, got 15 years in jail for an act she committed out of fear and horror of what she saw.

“Definitely, we have brought up this issue and we asked ‘where is the fairness and justice?’. Here the sentence for a woman differs from a man’s. Fairness and equality is required in this issue,” Zaidi told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.

Zaidi said she was planning to present a recommendation to the cabinet to modify Article 409 to require the same sentence for male and female killers. But she believes any proposed changes to the law are likely to provoke a “strong reaction”.

“At the end of the day, we are a Middle Eastern culture where tribal norms dictate affairs,” said Zaidi, an Arabic linguist and independent member of Maliki’s ruling coalition.“We will require some time before these recommendations turn into law ... there needs to be social awareness about this issue.”

As it stands with Article 409 if a man “surprises his wife or one of his female dependents (who is) in a state of adultery or finds her in bed with a partner and kills her immediately, or kills one of them”, he'll get a max of 3 years.


She's also trying to deal with the terrible problem of domestic violence in Iraq.  Although official estimates claim 20 percent of women are abused, Sundus Abbas of  the women's rights organization 'Women's Leadership Institute', believes it's closer to a whopping 73 percent. Unlike Zaidi,  Abbas has a different perspective on Article 409.

Zaidi’s proposed changes to the honor killing law fail to address the issue, she said. Giving female killers the same rights as male killers would still provide “legal cover for violence against women”.

“It is not correct to give the husband the right to kill his wife under this pretext and to give the same right to the wife in the same provision,” she told Reuters.

“I believe (Article 409) must be abolished and instead have a law that punishes a crime regardless of the reason.”

Good luck with that. Changing the mindset of  a religiously conservative, tribal mentality, patriarchal society will take a lot more than abolishing or toughening laws, but at least they're making the effort.

Pakistan To Enact Tough Domestic Violence Law

Here's some surprising news out of Pakistan:  the Senate is finally doing something to protect women and children against domestic violence with a Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill.  The Bill also includes domestic workers in the home, who also are often subject to major mistreatment by their employers.

Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar's DV Bill, which passed unanimously in 2009 in the lower house of parliament and has now passed in the upper house, takes the whole issue of domestic violence one step further.  It won't just be a criminal offence to beat women and children, any act of violence including sexual, physical, or mental, any kind of harassment, hurt, intimidation, or "confinement and deprivation of economic of financial resources" will land someone in jail for up to six months.  They'll also be subject to a fine of at least $1,100 (100,000 rupees).

This is a major step considering it's actually a cultural and religious mandate to beat wives in Islam.




Apparently, prior to this law there were no repercussions for a man who beat his wife or child, it was simply considered a domestic affair and men were never prosecuted.   I'm not sure what took so long for it to finally reach the upper house, and the law still has to be enacted by  President Asif Ali Zardari, but it's very promising.

The U.S. would do well to follow suit and enact tougher DV laws, since we have as great a problem with domestic violence but don't have religion or culture to blame.