On a Monday morning, at 10am, in the office of the association, Solidarité Feminine, the atmosphere was calm and relaxed. With a simple phone call and the atmosphere was disturbed violently. After the call, the police had just brought a young mother and her two children to the association. In the picture provided by the authorities, was a young face torn by the blade of a knife and her left cheek was abraded and revealed raw flesh. This is the story of a young teen mother that has not only been the victim, of a horrific crime, rape, but more importantly, she is further victimized by being severely cast out by the society. Many teen girls in Morocco are raped, impregnated, then rejected by their family, society and father of the baby, which further destabilizes them. The social stigma Moroccan society has towards rape victims results in men not being held accountable for their crimes, and the mother and her children having to live in harsh conditions.
One of the most obvious ways this stigma is shown is that these girls suffer from the rejection of their families and the scornful looks of society every day. According to Fikira Berrada, a woman working at an NGO called Oum Kalthoum that helps girls in these situations, the parents reject their daughter because “they are ashamed” and “sometimes they don’t even tell their parents in fear of being killed” (Fikiria Berrada, Interview). As if this fact were not bad enough, even more horrific is the fact that their parents often kill their daughter for being pregnant after getting raped. This shows that these parents are uncivilized and need to learn how to deal with these issues. If not, as parents they are not doing a good job. Once the girls have announced their pregnancy to their fam...
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An Elderly woman, normally a target in an unsafe neighborhood, carries a satchel of cash. It is the receipt of today's betting and the neighborhood knows robbing her would result in punishment that would be swift and certain, unlike the legal system. The retaliation preserves the mob's reputation and honor. The threat precludes an attack in the first place.
Rape is a physical attack, not sex. Rape crisis counselors and researchers define rape as an act of violence in which sex is used as a weapon (Benedict 2). A woman is raped in this country every two minutes. Between 1996 &1999 7,787,00 rapes were reported. The actual number is much, much higher because only 26% of rapes are reported. Husbands or boyfriends assaulted 28% of these women, 35% of these women were raped by people they knew; 1 in 4 of these rapes took place in a public place (Grady 4). Rape is a problem that infiltrates all countries and cultures; a Muslim woman who has been raped is disowned by her fiancé and her family for having brought them shame by becoming dirtied and thus not a candidate for marriage (Benedict 2).
From the beginning, men in the Dominican Republic shared stories of terrible male dictators, including the Trujillo, and the abuse they placed on women. Men began to heap on women and throughout history, have continued to treat women unfairly. In response, women in the Dominican Republic are targeted by male’s dominance because of the continuing history. Lola, Isis's mother, grew up with a rough upbringing. Lola narrates her past in a way that shows how abusive and aggressive her mother Beli is because she had no father.
15. Wallace, Albert H. "Guy de Maupassant: Overview." The Gale Group. Vol.2,1995. 31 OCT. 2000. ,
Through the article “Saving Amina” the writer Alison M. Jaggar has tried to address the issue that when it comes to violation of rights of women only culture cannot be blamed as root cause rather there are other factors as well. She has tried to identify those factors by raising following issues:
In the story “In Camera, Saadawi illustrated how women were treated by the legal system in Arabic country when they did something against the system. The protagonist, Leila Al-Fargani, who was a young woman on trial for calling the “mighty one”, which is a respective title for the President of their country, a stupid man. Moreover, during the time she was waiting for the court date, she was brutally beaten and raped by ten men who seem to be the guards. At the time she was in the court, she was still suffering from the pain both in physical and mental way, but she did not collapse. When the time the judge and those with him declared that ten men raped Leila and also her father’s honor got trampled. (This is the way we torture you women- by depriving you of the most valuable thing you possess”). For the response she said: “You fool! The most valuable thing I possess is not between my legs. You are all stupid. And the most stupid among you is the one who leads you.” In one hand, this quote completely showed that the man thought this sexual violence was totally right when the woman had committed a crime. In anther hand, it also showed that in the very deep of Leila, the...
Caere was strategically located at the junction of the coastal plains and the hills, and history suggests that it may have also had access to the mines of Tarquinii. The people of Caere were very strong on the sea. They were very involved in importing ...
In the case of genocidal rape, women are not the only ones affected because communities also go under major changes and shifts because children who are born from these rapes and fathered by men from other tribes taints a women’s tribe, destroys families and communities. Unfortunately children produced out of rape are never fully accepted into their mo...
"Olympe De Gouges." LES DROITS DE LA FEMME. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. .
This trauma imposed on the girl child is indicative of a practice comparable to torture. FGM becomes a violation when this procedure is done on them as infants and young girls. The fundamental issue is at stake here is that of consent. Whilst an adult is quit free to submit herself to a ritual or a tradition, a child, having no formed judgment, does not consent, but simply undergoes the mutilati...
What do you think and feel when you hear the word rape? Do you feel uncomfortable? Maybe even angry? Your certain feelings and emotions towards this word is a result of rape culture. Rape culture, essentially, is how a society as a whole sees and reacts towards rape or instances of rape. In 2013 rape was defined by the FBI as, “Penetration… of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” (Division’s Crime Statistics Management Unit 1). The definition was finally changed after the old definition deemed inappropriate by today’s standards, which beforehand, stated that physical force needed to be used for rape to be considered rape. This is good news for men and women who have been fighting for the definition to be changed, but unfortunately this does not mean that state laws are being changed the same way. Even though the FBI may acknowledge the older inappropriate definition, most states do not. Sexual assault is a commonly unreported crime, where only an average of 36% of sexual abuse is actually reported to the authorities (Planty 7). Some forms of rape can include physical harm, threats, and even death of the victim, and most victims do not want to tell others for fear of criticism, self-blame, or even the fear that their attackers will carry out on their threats. In many cases, victims do have a reason to be afraid. When someone is brave enough to come forward and say they were sexually assaulted, they are putting themselves in the position of being in not only a long legal process, but also having their motives questioned and misunderstood, which is the last thing they want after their experience. The legal system in the United States...
“The Harem Within” is a pioneering work that opens discussion of women’s rights in Islamic societies. With her humble life story Mernissi gives not only a voice to Moroccan women, but stands her advocacy for individual freedom and battle against the harem within. The narrative is a literature example that figures the women discrimination and appeal for
Where there is war, there is the rape and abuse of women. From the Trojan War to the Middle East conflict, rape has been a tactic of war. Rape is commonly viewed by society as a symbol of female degradation, female submission, and the stripping of honor and humanity. In the stories “Draupadi,” by Mahasweta Devi, and “Open It,” by Saadat Hasan Manto, the rape of women is a common theme. In Manto’s “Open It,” a young girl, Sakina, is raped by young men of her community, while in Devi’s “Draupadi,” a tribal rebel is raped by authorities of the state. While the storylines of these pieces are rather similar, the portrayal of the rape and the reactions of the young women are exceedingly different. Both authors use the disrobing of garments to create a dramatic climax. However, the respective climaxes convey contrasting ideas about the rape and degradation of women. In “Draupadi,” the unveiling of garments reveals immense female power. In “Open It,” the disrobing of garments reveals helpless female submission. Despite these differences, however, both acts of disrobing result in a striking male reaction and symbolize the remarkable survival of these battered and abused women.
Is anyone truly a stranger to nightmares? Has anyone not woken up in a feverish sweat with a racing pulse or pounding heart? Whose eyes have never wildly searched their room for the phantoms of a dream? Now, what if the familiar consolation of learning it was all in your head never came? How do you wake up from a nightmare that is, in fact, a reality? I think I’m getting ahead of myself. What I mean to say is, I was raped, and rape is a nightmare.
The value and status of women have been an issue in every society that has existed over time. The issue has never been something that a society successfully resolved, but it has evolved over time to cater to the society’s view of the time. The position of women, in particular, in Islam has been viewed with the least objectivity by the world, and societies over time. Muslim women are always viewed as oppressed individuals by people who aren’t much familiar with the practices of Islam. There are certain stereotypes associated with women in Islam, none of which actually reflect what Islam aims to establish or the actual value and status placed on women in Islam. At the time Islam was introduced, baby girls used to be buried alive at birth because they were considered a shame and if left to live were considered as a property of their fathers and allowed to be sold, were not allowed to have any rights or opinions in what was done with their lives. Islam was a revolutionary force in a time like this, it elevated women’s status in the society, provided them protection from the harsh realities of their society, gave women rights and identified them as human beings with equal rights to that of men. Since then, the value of women in society has changed dramatically, with significant differences in the status, value and role of women between pre and post Islamic periods. (Badawi, n.d.) (Why Islam, n.d.)