By Marcus Brown
Honor killing is the practice of homicide by a male family member, husband, or acquaintance of a woman who is believed to have acted in a manner that brings shame to the woman’s family, spouse, or ideology shared by the community. It is a practice often attributed to Middle Eastern countries in which standards dictated by religious factors play larger roles in societal operations, but the practice occurs all over the world. Honor killing is a deplorable and morally reprehensible crime, and it has claimed the life of Qandeel Baloch, a prominent Pakistani social-media star.
Baloch, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, was strangled to death by her brother on July 15 in response to the perceived shame her sexually suggestive social-media posts and outspoken feminist stances brought on to the Azeem family. Baloch has been referred to the Pakistani equivalent to the U.S. reality television star, socialite, and social-media icon Kim Kardashian. The key difference being that the society Baloch resided in regarded her at times salacious social-media presence as iconoclastic, while Kardashian’s social-media presence is largely tolerated if not lauded. The type of risqué photo Kardashian modeled for on the cover of Paper magazine last year said to have “broken the internet” is the same that could result in woman having her neck broken by a family member in certain cultures in which honor killings are deemed permissible.
Through the lenses of ethnocentrism behavior practiced by those in outside cultures may seem strange, if not illogical, but even the most unbiased, culturally relativistic perspective cannot excuse the practice of honor killings. Regardless of the beliefs and principles of the society one inhabits, unjustifiable killing demands punishment. The over-sexualization of women and even young girls in American society should make the idea of killing a family member over the way they choose to present themselves to the world seem unimaginable, but one would think that anywhere in the world, selfies should not be motivation for homocide. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The slaying of Baloch demonstrates the deep societal division between what is defined as acceptable female behavior in the United States and other cultures, and thankfully, while honor killing is not a common practice in the United States, it does not mean there are not lessons to be taken away. The attitudes that motivate honor killings in other countries exist in the United States, only the scales and possible consequences are different. Antiquated ideas of modesty and purity for woman still influence the treatment of women in this society, even if it is not used as justification for killing.
As much progress has been made toward true equality for women in this country, centuries of discrimination in this country cannot be ignored nor can the continued discrimination in other countries be ignored. To ignore the plight of oppressed groups simply because the ramifications do not affect you is tantamount to tacit endorsement. Simply because we have our own Kardashian does not mean we do not have obligation to stand and support those trying to cement for themselves a similar position in society in other parts of the world. It is not about the right to post sexy selfies. It is about the desire to live in a world that does not condone killing in the name of misogyny and ignorance.
