Violet at Reclusive Leftist points out something that should be obvious, but, evidently, isn't:
Earlier this week I wrote about the horrific murder of Aasiya Hassan, whose husband beheaded her in what may have been an honor killing. For many commenters on the web, it is apparently impossible to condemn this nightmare without hastening to add that American culture has plenty of its own home-grown brand of misogyny, and it’s therefore “intolerant” to notice the particular lethalness of the honor-shame paradigm in some non-Western cultures. You know the argument: America is full of sexism and the commodification of women and our own gendered violence, so we have no business even talking about women’s rights...
But for me, as a feminist, women’s rights are human rights. I am not an apostle for American culture, which is certainly far from perfect; I am an advocate for women. When I criticize honor killings or sharia law or any of the other non-Western abuses of women, I’m not speaking from a standpoint of cultural chauvinism. The ground I occupy is one of fundamental human rights for all women: freedom of action, of self-determination, of bodily integrity; freedom from violence and oppression and subjugation; freedom to be educated, to work, to love, to have children (or not); freedom to participate fully in life as first-class citizens. I view and judge every society on earth through that lens, including my own.
Many on the Left sneer at or don't understand why so many conservatives think they "hate" America, but this situation gives a great example of why. I find it perfectly consistent to decry domestic violence regardless of culture, and I don't feel the need to point out the warts in the American system to state that beheading your wife is unacceptable. Yet, apparently, there are a great many on the Left who do. It's one thing to fight for, say, equal pay or equal access and consider that an advancement for women. But does that really equal a man who beheads his wife in an honor killing? This bizarre reasoning should give people pause.
|