NOTE: Some readers may find the text and images on this list disturbing. For most of our readers, the biggest troubles in their lives are petrol prices, long working hours, and increasing food costs. For many women in the world, these are the least of their concerns. Terrible atrocities are committed against untold numbers of women around the world every day and for most of these women, justice will never be served. This is a list of the worst of the atrocities. In no particular order:
Bride kidnapping is a common practice in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. When it is time to get married in Kyrgyzstan, a man or his family will pick a woman and she will be kidnapped. The prospective groom and his male relatives or friends or both abduct the girl (in the old nomadic days, on horseback; now often by car) and take her to the family home, where the older women of the family try to get her to accept the marriage. Some families will keep the girl hostage for several days to break her will. Others will let her go if she remains defiant. The kidnapped woman’s family may also become involved in the process, either urging the woman to stay if the marriage is believed to be socially acceptable or advantageous for the prospective bride and her family, or opposing the marriage on various grounds and helping liberate the woman.
In Ethiopia and Rwanda it is quite brutal, where the man kidnaps the woman and rapes her. The family of the woman either then feels obliged to consent to the union, or is forced to when the kidnapper impregnates her, as no one else would marry a pregnant woman.
Honor Killing is a punitive murder, committed by members of a family against a female member of their family whom the family and/or wider community believes to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman is usually targeted for: refusing an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce (even from an abusive husband), or committing adultery or fornication. These killings result from the perception that any behavior of a woman that “dishonors” her family is justification of a killing that would otherwise be deemed murder. UNICEF has reported that in India, more than 5,000 brides are killed annually because their marriage dowries are considered insufficient. As of 2004, honor killings have occurred within parts of various countries, such as Albania, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States.
Bride Burning is a form of domestic violence practiced in parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries located on or around the Indian subcontinent. In bride burning cases it is alleged that a man, or his family, douses his wife with kerosene, gasoline, or other flammable liquid, and sets the woman alight, leading to death by fire.
Acid Attacks are a violent phenomena that primarily occur in Afghanistan. Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims (usually at their faces), burning them. The consequences include permanent scarring of the face and body as well as potential blindness. Acid attacks are sometimes referred to as vitriolage.
Female genital mutilation refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons. FGM is practiced throughout the world, with the practice concentrated most heavily in Africa. There have been many concerted efforts by the WHO to end the practice. Among practicing cultures, FGM is most commonly performed between the ages of four and eight, but can take place at any age from infancy to adolescence. The procedure, when performed without anesthetic, can lead to death through shock from immense pain or excessive bleeding.
Since the fall of the iron curtain, the impoverished former Eastern bloc countries such as Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have been identified as major trafficking source countries for women and children. Young women and girls are often lured to wealthier countries by the promise of money and work and then reduced to sexual slavery. It is estimated that 2/3 of women trafficked for prostitution worldwide annually come from Eastern Europe, three-quarters have never worked as prostitutes before. The major destinations are Western Europe (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK and Greece), the Middle East (Turkey, Israel, the United Arab Emirates), Asia, Russia and the United States. An estimated 500,000 women from Central and Eastern Europe are working in prostitution in the EU alone.
In parts of Ghana, a family may be punished for an offense by having to turn over a virgin female to serve as a sex slave within the offended family. In this system of slavery of ritual servitude, young virgin girls are given as slaves in traditional shrines and are used sexually by the priests in addition to providing free labor. [Image above: two young female slaves]
This article is licensed under the GFDL because it contains quotations from Wikipedia.
Contributor: rushfan
people are *****s!
In the picture for #7, why does the woman in the background look so damn happy??
Like I said, I've always read about bride kidnapping as a sort of joke, and a ritual. Like the opposite of a bachelor party. Maybe the woman in this picture is reacting more negatively than most.
it’s not a joke
I agree with Randall. When I saw the title I expected it to be filled with gore from Afghanistan and the likes. It's an eye-opener to see that such stuff happens everywhere in the world including developed countries like Canada,Sweden,Germany,etc.
Thank You Rushfan for this great list.
but what you don’t understand is it is the immigrants in those countries who do these things against women
#8 – My 10 inch vegetable has caused third degree burns to numerous virgins
GROW THE ***** UP YOU STUPID PRICK. its people like you that make this world even *****ter than it already is. thats just *****ing distasteful.
Is that because they keep dropping the match to see how small your prick is?
Enter your comment here.
Your a f***ing disgusting person why would you say that after reading this and seeing those pictures what kind of sick minded person are you. Your the kind of person that make this place terrible. You f***ing bastard.
Great list, well compiled. Im a man, and this was a very emotional and difficult list to read. :*(
It's not everyday that I hear men express their true disgust & feelings towards the horrific suffering that women around the world endure at the hands of other men/human beings in general. You're one of a kind, just thought you should know.
Where in the world are you from? That’s a pretty *****ist comment to make. I actually take offense to this.
So what you are saying is that simply because somebody is of the male gender that the majority of them cannot and would not be repulsed by this kind of action. How absurd. I know plenty of people, MALE or female, that do not condone any kind of violent action (especially of a nature such as this) from anybody.
That was a totally ridiculous comment. I’m betting more males than what you try to allude to actually condemn these kinds of actions.
It’s not everyday? Where are you from? That sounds like a pretty *****ist comment to say, that because of somebody’s gender they wouldn’t care about situations like this. These actions are reprehensible, and I don’t know one person, MALE or female that would think lightly about this simply because of gender.
Please do not act like there is only one or two males that are disgusted by these acts. That’s a ridiculous, inaccurate, and highly offensive, *****ist viewpoint.
Can somebody remove the 1st comment? It was actually my 2nd. My other comment didn’t show up so I had to re-write, then the 1st comment showed up. Thank you.
I’ve read your comments on other lists and I have to say you’re one of the most cynical *****s on here. All you do is ***** at people, look at the negatives and you’re just be a douche. Have you ever smiled in your life or are you always so cynical? You look for flaws in ones opinion and exploit it. I just wanted to let you know that all I perceived from your rants is you’re a downer and a annoying one to boot. Please for the sake of everyone else just lighten up instead of being the downer everyone hates.
dear carrot man,
Please see the earlier comment where a male viewer used this list as an opportunity to make a d!ck joke. ABOUT something on this list. See also the ratio of male seeming screen names to female. THAT is why Katie expressed her gratitude. Also note she thanked him for EXPRESSING his disgust, that him actually SPEAKING it was rare, not that he felt it in the first place.
Then chill out.
can’t believe some of this stuff goes on in the world
Jesus this list is depressing… It’s disgusting that these things still go on in the world.
A well written list I think, nice one rushfan.
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”
-Sir Charles Napier, upon hearing of the Indian custom of Sati (burning widows alive on their husbands’ funeral pyres)
Very well written rushfan. I appreciate your efforts to bring these disgusting acts to the world stage.
Well done!
Thank you for respecting the seriousness of this list. I feel, as a woman in the Western world, that it is my duty to not only appreciate my freedom, but at the very least educate myself about what life is like as a woman in the rest of the world.
Really makes you appreciate living in the US, eh?
danni lynn…."Really makes you appreciate living in the US, eh?" if you really believe being female and living in the u.s.a our (female) babies…toddlers…children…pre-teens…teens….young adults….adults…and our elderly should feel safe & be appreciative because we're SAFE here….what you really need to do is….EDUCATE YOURSELF. you…your sister/s…your daughter/future daughter/s….your female relatives….your girlfriends….any female for that matter…are NO SAFER here in the u.s.a… than the women in areas list above. THEN…once you've spent sometime educating yourself ( and understand i didn't post this to hurt your feelings or to be-little you. sometimes…postings/comments are read/taken the wrong way) and ONLY THEN…should you give thanks to "your" Higher Power and be/feel VERY appreciative that you are FEMALE
….that you..and all the females in your life…have never had to suffer the way MANY of our "sisters" have. HERE IN THE U.S.A….those listed…and everywhere.
“you…your sister/s…your daughter/future daughter/s….your female relatives….your girlfriends….any female for that matter…are NO SAFER here in the u.s.a… ”
I’ve been to some of the places listed, and if you really think what you typed in my quote is true, then it is YOU who needs to EDUCATE YOURSELF.
a few years ago after the albanian conflict dyncorp(an american company) pleaded guilty to selling over 200,000 women and children into slavery. Nothing was done, no penalties were paid, no one was punished, and dyncorp is in Iraq right now making hundreds of millions . But we wont talk about that since jfrater isnt a “conspiracy person”.
Very, very good (if utterly depressing and heart-wrenching) list. Sometimes we forget how many repugnant things are going on in the world around us, and how often women (and children) are the victim of them.
Nice, too, that this list isn’t simply an Islam-bash-fest.
Well done.
I am absolutely horrified at the stuff that women are put through. This list actually made me cry and never again will I take it for granted that I am a Canadian citizen. The people that actually commit these horrors against women will have to answer to someone one day and I hope they’re treated exactly the same way as they have treated these women. Karma does work!
Well, to them it's just part of why life sucks and you just have to go thru it. Not that I support it, but it's always important to see things from everyone's point of view.
Honestly, Karma works in many ways, but i dont believe in it, however, no matter what the people do, u cannot inflict it on them as well, as then the karma list will be endless and everyone would eventually…get bad karma i guess…
ur comment is contradictory. karma works but i dont believe in it?…. not everyone will have bad Karma come back to them. Karma is this…… what you put out into the world will come back to you, so if constantly put bad into the world then u will get bad back but if you try to put only good out then u will get good back …no one is perfect and I think the universe or your higher power knows that
Very good list!
It is really heart breaking to know that these things go on around the world.
Wow, how depressing. So sad that most of these inhumanities are sanctioned (or appear to be) by other women. As humans we should not hesitate to take action against such injustices, as a man, I am no less guilty of inaction. This is just horrific.
So, who’s against the death penalty now? Eh?
I am still completely against the death sentence even in these cases
Damn,this makes me so happy that I don’t live in Iran any longer. I’m more angry at the women that allow things like this to happen than with the men. Cause surely they’ve suffered some abuse too, they should be able to do something. Even though it is hard. Very informative list.
What makes you think that the women living under these conditions can do anything? Thousands of years of such culture makes it nearly impossible for the women to make changes happen. Not impossible but so close to it. I am speaking from a nice comfortable average American family so have to admit to never having experienced such a lifestyle. For which I am profoundly grateful. But I do feel able in some small way to try and understand the situations. If someone is raised from infancy to never speak their mind, to live with a father or husband making the rules with out question why would that person be to blame for the actions of the rule makers?
Well. That was personally the most sobering and depressing list I’ve ever read on the ‘Verse. The Bride Kidnapping practices were completely unknown to me, and though I’ve read about it before, the fact that families commit “honor killings” against victims of *****ual abuse is just mind boggling.
I'd always read about bride kidnapping as sort of a joke; you "kidnap" the bride, she spends the night at her fiance's house, and they get married the next day. Akin to, but sort of the opposite of, a bachelor party. Guess I was misinformed.
sorry Bob, not I. When we have a perfect judicial system that doesn’t favor the rich and we have a device that insures no falsely accused will be punish AND when politics are removed from the process, I may consider it.
So what do we think are proper punishments for the people who commit these atrocities? I’m thinking maybe public buggering with a pumice stone. Follow that up with castration…with a hammer. That sounds fair.
It makes me ill. Words cannot describe the sorrow I feel that these practices are still around in our “civilized” society.
This list is gonna “haunt” me for some time…
what´s wrong with the world! I just wish evil around the world would stop and that we all could live free and happy… a girl can dream can´t she?
greensweetshoes: Not these girls..
Joel ~ I saw a documentary on it once and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. As with all of the practices on this list, it’s hard to comprehend unless you exerience these cultures. I fear these things. We are all responsible for, at the very least, a basic awareness of what our fellow humans are enduring.
And I whole-heartedly agree, it’s inconceivable that women perpetuate these atrocities against their fellow women. Especially FGM.
Toxic ~ no one from the Khmer Rouge was ever held accountable. nothing would surprise me.
Toxic – Do you have a refrence for this? The Wiki article on Dyncorp makes no mention of this.
Thanks, Harsha. I actually could have gone on, but researching this stuff was very depressing, as you can imagine. I would have put more data on the *****ual slave trade, but stats are hard to come by because it is such a huge industry and it affects so very, very many countries.
great list rushfan, superb job, it must have been extremely emotional to compile, as a man i dont know if i could have done it and kept my feelings in check in the narrative as well as you did, you have my utmost respect.
AnotherEngine: She may be a member of the girl’s family who supports the marriage she will be forced into.
Wally: Please keep you inappropriate and immature comments for ebaums, they don’t belong here.
dangorironhide : stop laughing then
like i said, GROW THE ***** UP.
I am touched by the responses to my list. It is extremely emotional for me as a woman and a mother of a baby daughter. I honestly in my soul feel an obligation to do something for these women (and children) but like many people, I feel helpless. What can be done? I don’t know. But once you know about these things, you can’t say you don’t. It’s a start.
Wally: I would be laughing if it was funny. Your comment isn’t.
“Canada, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.”
Honor killings take place in these countries?!
I was surprised at the fact that these are well-developed countries.
Mostly by first-generation immigrants. Born-and-raised Americans might do the same thing, but they'd call it murder, not honor killing.
Excellent and sobering list. Good to remind us all of how lucky we are.
Unfortunately people bring their culture with them wherever they go. That is why there are incidences of FGM, honor killings and the like all over the world, even in western countries.
The best way to help these women is through education. Many of these people know no other way of living. It may be uncomfortable to acknowledge that in this day and age we have people living a life of ignorance, submission, and superstition; but it is true. We all share the shame.
As you say, people bring their culture with them. There was a time in America that things did happen here. A time I can't say for sure is over I'm sorry to say. Racism in the US has caused extreme violence against women here in the past. Women were subject to become victims of violence and even death for their choices in dating men of other races. Needless to say the men were also victims when caught. As there are many inter-racial couples and families now I'm hopeful that we have moved away from those times.
rushfan you ask what cane be done? you are doing a huge service to women in these situations by educating the readers of this site. Education is the best weapon against these abuses, education can be elightening but can also be depressing and even dangerous, but id rather know something and be disturbed about it, that not know at all.. To paraphrase Edmund Burke “All it will take for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing”
This list makes me want to flush multiculturalism and “inter-cultural understanding” down the drain more than I already do. I would like to hear some proponent of political correctness and multicultural universalism justify these atrocities under the guise of “understanding” and “culture respect.” There is no room for political correctness when women are getting maimed and burned alive. Some actions are just wrong, plain and simple.
Mom424 – No, we DO NOT all share the shame. The propagating parties of these horrific acts own the shame.
Doesn't some of the shame fall on you too, for posting comments in all caps instead of booking a flight to an effected country and trying to inject some sense into it all?
Though I had heard, or rather read, of most of these horrors before, the addition of actual photographs, taken as the event happens in most case, appalls me even more!
I can’t begin to imagine what goes through the mind of the victim as the fear and pain envelopes them. I’m quite sure I don’t want to know.
As to those who practice these evil atrocities (yes, I know that’s redundant, but this is so overwhelming it’s deserved), I can only hope that some day they will have to answer for their actions.
Flgh – when countries do not encourage assimilation, 3rd world practices and atrocities are carried over and embed into certain parts of the culture. Once again, I lambast the obsession with multiculturalism – it has gone from a doctrine of understanding and education, to a mantra of moral relativism and “looking the other way.” The only way to root out these disgusting acts and all other reprehensible aspects of other cultures is to demand assimilation, not pandering and bowing to the cultural divides.
Well, there are good and bad things about all cultures. I mean, tons of black women in Western society put lye on their hair so it looks like white people's hair. They put lye on their heads, and the heads of their babies. Because it's their standard of beauty. So…we're not blameless, if you look closely enough. And also, society as a whole has done what it can to root out the problem in most cases. But people are corrupt, so legal action isn't always enough.
You neglected to mention the 20% of American women have been physically assaulted by partners. That equates to well over 20 million women being victims of domestic abuse…do these ‘abuses’ only count when they’re happening in other ‘backwards’ cultures? This seems more like an attempt to take a patronizing, stereoptypical view at non-western cultures to make yourself feel better. You don’t understand these cultures fully, clearly, as all of the items on this list have been copied from wikipedia. I don’t know about these cultures much either, but thats why im not judging them based on an internet encyclopaedia and a questionable moral highground.
I don't know much about the other cultures either, but I'm pretty sure the only difference between this abuse and the abuse that you're talking about is choice. None of those women had a choice. American women do.
@mflo yes we do, unfortunately. Being oblivious to such problems across the world is in itself a type of crime.Merely being educated isn’t going to stop these atrocities. We need to actually stand up and help our fellow women to stand up to horrific acts like these.
mflo; Yes we do, as a progressive society, for being so smug and self-serving in our attitudes to the rest of the world. How much has the west done to increase education, raise the standard of living in the rest of the world? Now compare it to what we could have done. How many schools, wells, and the like could have been funded with say a tenth of the American defense budget? That is my point.
“Between 1993 and 2001, there were 109 “honour killings” in Britain”
Source: UK Telegraph
“Sarah Said, 17, and Amina Said, 18, were found fatally shot Jan. 1 in their father’s taxi at a Las Colinas hotel. Family and friends have said Yaser Said was angry because the girls were dating non-Muslim boys.”
Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram
“Slain schoolgirl Aqsa Parvez will be buried tomorrow” “The 16-year-old Mississauga girl died Monday after she was strangled in her Longhorn Trail home after quarreling with family for months over her desire to shed the hijab, the traditional Muslim headscarf.”
Source: Toronto Star
““Canada, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.”
Honor killings take place in these countries?!”
Yes, they do take place in these countries.
These things don’t happen in America, but of course we American men get blamed for it anyway, judging by at least SOME of the previous posters.
It does happen in the states, and not to be rude but it tends to be Indian immagrants, thats what they believe is right to do. North-Americains know its not, but that is how they are raised, its all about culture.
mflo; All the incidences of FGM and honor killing that have happened here have been prosecuted. The practice is not excused or condoned here. Not to say that the punishment is harsh enough always, but that is true of most violent crime in this country.
It makes me sick to my stomach to think that the people who do these things are still considered human.
Slightly off topic here, but highly relevant.
I always thought that all suicide bombers,etc were just @$$holes and scums on this planet who deserve to die. But my perception of this problem changed entirely when I was asked to do a project on suicide bombers a few years ago.
This story is a true documented story that I came across and I’ll paste the link if I can find it.
A suicide bomber failed in his attempt to blow up a US convoy in Iraq at the start of the Iraq war. Instead he was captured and held by the US troops. A reporter managed to gain access and coaxed him to tell his side of the story.
This bomber was barely in his twenties.He said that during the first Gulf war, when he was barely 8 or 9 US troops invaded his village. All male members who offered resistance were shot. His mother and three sisters were raped in front of him and his younger brother.
He says he was extremely traumatized from the experience and has lived alone for nearly his entire teen life, until he was taken in by a rebel group(a jihad propogating group) and was trained in arms. He himself volunteered for the suicide mission, as he wanted revenge against the Americans.
I know that this is off-topic but I wrote this in response to all those people saying that other countries are in no way responsible for atrocities that happen in these countries.
Great list Rushfan. I am glad that many of these are brought out in the open.
Misc.: I am not sure what we need to understand of a culture to accept killing of other people? A questionable moral highground? Interesting. I am sure you will be fine going to live in one of these countries as a woman. The abuse in America is very valid, but it is also not acceptable in the US. These are practiced, accepted, and encouraged in these countries.
It’s amazing how much we complain on a daily basis about this and that. Bag traffic, a poorly made salad, a day that drags on too slowly. Last night I was complaining about not having brownies – I was really annoyed about it. Puts things into perspective.
Bag=bad
No brownies? That sucks!
rushfan: I meant to include earlier, but was too shaken…Fabulous List.
Educational, emotionally wrenching, and while not offering any solutions, at least open the door for people to start considering solutions. This is a List that deserves consideration for 2008 MVL, if there is one.
If there isn’t, I’ll put it on mine.
Harsha – Even if you can find said documentary, I would need a lot more proof that this incident happened than the word of a terrorist.
Re: misc – “do these ‘abuses’ only count when they’re happening in other ‘backwards’ cultures?”
No, but the reaction of the societies where these atrocities occur do ‘count’.
“An Iraqi teenage girl was brutally murdered by her father in an “honour killing” after she fell in love with a British soldier in Basra.”
“When her father learned she had been seen speaking to a foreigner he rushed home and butchered her, strangling and stabbing her while screaming that he was “cleansing his honour”.
“He was arrested, but Iraqi police took no action. His wife has since left him and is in hiding.”
“Because her family considered her impure, Rand was given only a simple burial. Her uncles spat in her grave to show their disgust.”
Source: Daily Mail UK
I read nearly all of the comments, and not one that I read mentioned anyone being angry, just depressed.
Well, I’m angry! I hate that these things go on, and while I can be respectful of another’s cultural beliefs, women are human beings too, and deserving of love and respect, not hatred and abuse.
Until enough of us get angry enough, things like this will continue.
Wally, only idiots who are lacking in that area of the body make comments like yours. If you feel the need to compensate for that lack, go buy a sports car, or jump off of a very high, steep cliff. Don’t bring your ignorance here. It’s unwanted.
We're angry, too. When we say we're depressed, we mean we feel lots of negative emotion, anger being among them.
Very sobering list. But certainly needed, as I believe most of us here were not fully aware of these acts and the widespread acceptance of them.
It kills me that my country’s government turns their backs and wallets away from these atrocities and yet finances killing in the name of democracy.
I definitely believe we are all guilty because I’m sure many human beings are bought and sold here in the US.
misc.:
Please. There’s a big difference between appreciating and understanding the intricacies of another culture–such as why some people around the world think Americans smile too much, or why it’s considered the height of rudeness to eat with one’s left hand in much of the Near East, and so on–but there’s a point where “multi-culturalism” becomes nothing more than a mealy-mouthed excuse for not taking a stand… probably because it requires too much backbone on the part of some of us.
The real trick to being culturally aware and sophisticated is to be able to make the necessary and needed judgement calls while still keeping one’s finger digging away at the mote in one’s own eye. The West is not pristine and blameless about many things. But that doesn’t mean we can’t call out a Wrong when we see one, regardless of who’s committing it.
Cleaning up our own act is always a good thing. But it shouldn’t stop us from standing up and demanding that things change around the world as well.
Despite governments and national boundaries, we live in a world community that must have certain standards. Unfortunately, of course, there’s no way to really establish such standards, let alone enforce them. All we have left, then, is protest and education. We can, as people and governments, continue to beat at the doors of other cultures, hoping that gradually, they come to change the gross injustices which they allow.
Of course, this has the “danger” of coming back around to bite us in the ass. We must be prepared to admit to our own faults and injustices, and to change them. But just because I stole my neighbor’s weed whacker the other day, that won’t stop me from turning him in when he beats his wife and kids.
I should of course return the weed whacker and steal no more. And it’s my responsibility to do so, and to understand why it’s wrong. But don’t tell me that there’s something I need to “understand” when I see the other guy hitting his wife. No no no. We all know wrongs when we see them, regardless of how tainted we ourselves may be in other ways.
Wow, what a heavy and very sobering list! Thank you rushfan for creating this list. Education is the first step!
It is a sick atrocity that these kinds of things are allowed and actually done around the world in so many countries. Damn them all to Hell that think these actions are justified and ok! Though there are also many people working at putting a stop to this – good for them, I hope we can all do something!
So, where do we go from here?