I
f we uncritically immerse ourselves in the
cultural context of any society, seeing it only as it sees itself,
then we are embracing its self-serving illusions. Perceiving a society
“purely on its own terms” usually means seeing it through
the eyes of dominant groups that exercise a preponderant influence
in shaping its beliefs and practices.
Furthermore, the dominant culture frequently rests on standards
that are not shared by everyone within the society itself. So we
come upon a key question: whose culture is it anyway? Too often
what passes for the established culture of a society is the exclusive
preserve of the privileged, a weapon used against more vulnerable
elements.
This is seen no more clearly than in the wrongdoing perpetrated
against women. A United Nations report found that prejudice and
violence against women “remain firmly rooted in cultures around
the world.”
In many countries, including the United States, women endure discrimination
in wages, occupational training, and job promotion. According to
a
New York Times
report (6/18/04), in sub-Saharan Africa
women cannot inherit or own land—even though they cultivate
it and grow 80 percent of the continent’s food.
It is no secret that women are still denied control over their own
reproductive activity. Throughout the world about 80 million pregnancies
a year are thought to be unwanted or ill-timed. Some 20 million
unsafe illegal abortions are performed annually, resulting in the
deaths of some 78,000 women yearly, with millions more sustaining
serious injury.
In China and other Asian countries where daughters are seen as a
liability, millions of infant females are missing, having been aborted
or killed at birth or done in by neglect and underfeeding.
An estimated hundred million girls in Africa and the Middle East
have been genitally mutilated by clitoridectomy (excision of the
clitoris) or infibulation (excision of the clitoris, labia minor,
and inner walls of the labia majora, with the vulva sewed almost
completely shut, allowing an opening about the circumference of
a pencil). The purpose of such mutilation is to drastically diminish
a woman’s capacity for sexual pleasure, insuring that she remains
her husband’s compliant possession. Some girls perish in the
excision process (usually performed by an older female with no medical
training). Long term consequences of infibulation include obstructed
menstrual flow, chronic infection, hurtful coitus, and complicated
childbirth.
In much of the Middle East, women have no right to drive cars or
appear in public unaccompanied by a male relative. They have no
right to initiate divorce proceedings, but can be divorced at the
husband’s will.
In Latin American and Islamic countries, men sometimes go unpunished
for defending their “honor” by killing their allegedly
unfaithful wives or girlfriends. In fundamentalist Islamic Iran,
the law explicitly allows for the execution of adulterous women
by stoning, burning, or being thrown off a cliff.
In countries such as Bangladesh and India, women are murdered so
that husbands can remarry for a better dowry. An average of five
women a day are burned in dowry-related disputes in India and many
more cases go unreported. In Bihar, India, women found guilty of
“witchcraft” are still burned to death. In modern-day
Ghana, there exist prison camps for females accused of being witches.
In contrast male fetish priests in Ghana have free reign with their
magic practices. These priests often procure young girls from poor
families that are said to owe an ancestral debt to the priest’s
forebears. The girls serve as the priests’ sex slaves. The
ones who manage to escape are not taken back by their fearful families.
To survive, they must either return to the priest shrine or go to
town and become prostitutes.
Millions
of young females drawn from all parts of the world are pressed into
sexual slavery in what amounts to an estimated $7 billion annual
business. More than a million girls and boys,
many
as young as five and six, are conscripted into prostitution in Asia
and perhaps an equal number in the rest of the world. Pedophiles
from the United States and other countries fuel the Asian traffic.
Enjoying anonymity and impunity abroad, these “sex tourists”
are inclined to treat their acts of child rape as legal and culturally
acceptable.
In Afghanistan under the Taliban, women were captives in their own
homes, prohibited from seeking medical attention, working, or going
to school. The U.S. occupation of Afghanistan was hailed by President
Bush Jr. as a liberation of Afghani women. In fact, most of that
country remains under the control of warlords who oppose any move
toward female emancipation. The plight of rural women has become
yet more desperate. Scores of young women have attempted self-immolation
to escape family abuse and unwanted marriages. “During the
Taliban we were living in a graveyard, but we were secure,”
opined one female activist. “Now women are easy marks for rapists
and armed marauders.”
In Iraq we find a similar pattern: the plight of women worsening
because of a U.S. invasion. Saddam Hussein’s secular Baath
Party created a despotic regime (fully backed by Washington during
its most murderous period). But the Baathists did allow Iraqi women
rights that were unparalleled in the Gulf region. Women could attend
university, travel unaccompanied, and work alongside men in various
professions. They could choose whom to marry or refrain from getting
married.
With the growing insurgency against the U.S. occupation, females
are now targeted by the ascendant Islamic extremists. Clerics have
imposed new restrictions on them. Women are forced to wear the traditional
head covering and girls spend most of their days indoors confined
to domestic chores. Most Iraqi women are now deprived of public
education. Often the only thing left to read is the Koran. Many
women fear they will never regain the freedom they enjoyed under
the previous regime. As one Iraqi feminist noted, “The condition
of women has been deteriorating…. This current situation, this
fundamentalism, is not even traditional. It is desperate and reactionary.”
For all the dramatic advances made by women in the United States,
they too endure daunting victimization. Tens of thousands of them
either turn to prostitution because of economic need or are forced
into it by a male exploiter—and kept there by acts of violence
and intimidation.
An estimated three out of four women in the U.S. are victims of
a violent crime sometime during their lifetime. Every day, four
women are murdered by men to whom they have been close. Murder is
the second leading cause of death among young U.S. women. In the
U.S. domestic violence is the leading cause of injury among females
of reproductive age. An estimated three million women are battered
each year by their husbands or male partners, often repeatedly.
Statistically, a woman’s home is her most dangerous place—if
she has a man in it.
Battered women usually lack the financial means to escape, especially
if they have children. When they try, their male assailants are
likely to come after them and inflict still worse retribution. Police
usually are of little help. Arrest is the least frequent response
to domestic violence. In most states, domestic beatings are classified
as a misdemeanor.
Women who kill their longtime male abusers in desperate acts of
self-defense usually end up serving lengthy prison sentences. In
recent times women’s organizations have had some success in
providing havens for battered women and pressuring public authorities
to move against male violence.
Those who demand respect for their culture may have a legitimate
claim or they may really be seeking license to oppress the more
vulnerable elements within their society. There may be practices
in any culture, including our own, that are not worthy of respect.
There are basic rights that transcend all cultures, as even governments
acknowledge when they outlaw certain horrific customs and sign international
accords in support of human rights.
This
is an excerpt from Parenti’s newest book,
The Culture
Struggle
. He is also the author of
Superpatriotism
(City Lights) .
