CM
July 5, 2012, 8:13am
21
Re: Is this an honor killing?
Men being gender-stereotyped is such a pressing issue in the world today. If this is parody I like it. If it’s unintentional parody I love it.
Tbh, it doesn’t sound like an honor killing. Seems AFP is trying to word it in a way to make for interesting reading. I can find you stories that fit the point you’re trying to make, but this one doesn’t apply. Honor victims die because their actions bring perceived shame to an individual/family/society. This is a would-be honor killing candidate committing patricide/fratricide. The difference isn’t just gender, it’s also motive. She didn’t kill them to redeem her honor (like you would a rapist), she killed them because they were an obstacle to her marriage to a Dalit (shameful act).
Take heart, the definition of an honor killing victim doesn’t exclude men. They’re often killed along with the women (or men ;)) they’re involved with. Statistically the majority of victims are female, because “honor” resides in the bodies/perceived reputations of women (incidentally the bottom-line of most hit Pakistani dramas).
Speaking of gender-stereotypes, take the term man-slut and man-whore. Why do we have to qualify that the whore is male? Because whoredom is a state natural to women, of course. After I pointed this out to my male friends, they started calling each other whores, no hyphens added. The turnaround was endearing, really.
So lets simplify it for my sake since most of you women are so adamant its not a case of honor killing. So in other words a girl killing her father and brother for the sake of a guy at the young age of 14 doesn’t bring shame to an individual/family/society. That is just plain old murder and its all cool?
Also wouldn’t the act of marrying a dalit be an affront to the honor of the family and thus her actions were in fact an pre-emptive action to get rid of that element?