Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

[system]

I was reading the following in Road to Mecca by Mohammad Asad: beduin tribes who had long-standing fueds could end the conflict if the wronged party abducted a virgin girl from the offending party and married her. This rose up in the context of Asad’s meeting with a Jordanian leader.

I am looking for other examples of primitive sorts of revenge / justice / justice through revenge and so on. Anyone who has studied anthropology - what methods have other cultures and previous epochs employed in meting out justice / exacting revenge?

[system]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

And oh yes, especially justice / revenge for women who have been suspected of illicit sex and adultery. I was reading somewhere that the man who suspected his wife could leave her in the fields and her punishment was gang rape. I am desperately trying to remember where I read this.

[Captain1]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

^ I believe the famoust (or notorious, depending on your stance) case of Mukhtaran Mai would also shed light on primitve justice types, probably honor killing as well.

[Mamaof3]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

Are you looking for info specifically from South Asia? if you're looking at history in general....

The Aztec and Maya were notoriously fond of virgin sacrifice both male and female.

I think the early Greeks were too. Or was it the early Romans? ack, i forget.

Ancient Egypt had a particularly nasty custom of entombing the wife if the husband died. (Not sure if they killed her first or just sealed her in there).

[Dushwari]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

medieval europe, papal states in the Parisian churchdom, the monarchy of the Loius I - VIII all had women as war prizes, or queens who were pawns & became bed fellows to two different countries' kings, simply to save the false statehoods.

one thing is inflicting misery on the weak, the coerced, &all of this right here ^, are examples of gruesome compromises in excess, merely because in the world of men, whether of one creed or another, women happen to be just an other usable.

[Das_Reich]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

whatever they did was a lot better than this …

http://deptorg.knox.edu/engdept/commonroom/HWP_Essays/3/HWP3-Essay-Pages_1-5.htm

). The pear, however, was a torture device which was often used on females in an attempt to destroy the core of feminine power. . . the vagina (see figs. 1 and 2). Damaging the breasts with pincers or cutting them off altogether also manifested a desire to physically mutilate and/or destroy female sex organs. As mentioned in Witchcraze by Anne Barstowe, the tragic story of Anna Pappenheimer involves near-pornographic moments of physical and sexual humiliation. Her breasts were cut off and forced into her children’s mouths not only to punish her, but also to threaten onlooking women simultaneously. Cutting off the breasts was painful, but was also a way to destroy the female capability to breast-feed. Similarly, the physical torment of water torture functioned to mock maternal power. This method involved force feeding women large amounts of liquids until their stomachs became hideously distended. The questioning would continue, and if the desired response was not offered by the accused, her stomach would be beaten. This form of torture was not only physically harming to the individual in question, but it was also a way to mock female power by creating a morbid parody of pregnancy.

[0dette]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

i really like Muhammad Asad's ROAD TO MECCA. especially where he describes the ka'aaba .
i think it's one of the best material ever written

[Mamaof3]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

there was also the "scarlet letter"...I think this was 1 7th or 18th century europe....women who were beleived to be aldulturers had to wear a big scarlet letter "A" visible on their person. And endure whatever resulting abuse that could be thrown at them while out in public. There was a movie abt this called The Scarlet Letter, an award winning movie (that I havent seen)

[Khumar]

Re: Primitive forms of justice e.g. virgin blood

The Scarlet Letter is an amazing book by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It describes the story of this unmarried woman who had a child, and as a consequence not only had to wear the letter A (scarlet letter), but also was an outcast from the town. She was also had “witch tendencies” because she gathered roots and herbs to make medicine and what not. She was given oppurtunities to reveal the identity of the child’s father, but she never relented. Turns out it was the local priest Sorry to spoil the end, but I hated the end. The guy gets off easy, and there is no pay-back for the humiliation the woman had to suffer.

The movie is based on the book.