Thursday, July 23, 2009

Stop calling them 'honour killings'

According to The Times,

A young Muslim woman has been warned by police that her life is in danger after a male friend was allegedly forced to drink acid and was stabbed twice in the back in an apparent “honour attack”.

The Danish Asian man is in a serious but stable condition in hospital after an incident in Leytonstone, East London, three weeks ago. Sulphuric acid is said to have been forced down his throat.

The 24-year-old, being treated in a specialist unit in Essex, is now blind, his tongue has been destroyed and he suffered 90 per cent burns.

The woman, who claims the relationship is an innocent friendship, and the man live in the Asian community of East London, where their relationship is said to have upset her family for bringing dishonour on them.

It is time to stop calling these attacks "honour killings". They have nothing to do with honour and everything to do with control - families physically threatening and bullying women into behaving the way they would like them to behave.

Calling them "honour killings" merely enforces the lie that honour is the real motive here - and that honour is a good enough reason to kill or maim someone.

From now on, let's call them what they are - "murders".

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