A man upset about his daughter's dating habits chopped off her head with a sword, then paraded it around their village in India.
Oghad Singh had accused his 20-year-old daughter Kanwar of bringing dishonor to the family because of her affairs with men. Police say he became enraged when he found out she had secretly eloped with one of them, forced her to return home, and then cut off her head a day later.
Kanwar's choices, including leaving her husband from an arranged marriage two years earlier, were tough for her traditional community of 1,000 to accept. Still, villagers were horrified by her father's actions and he later turned himself in carrying both the head and sword into the police station.
This story is appalling for so many reasons. When it comes to sexuality, double standards are common in every culture, the United States included. While boys are encouraged to sow their wild oats, girls are expected to suppress their sexuality. Even today, people often place women in just two categories -- virgin or whore. It feels as though we still can't openly express our desires and act on them without judgement.
Of course, this particular story is an extreme case in another country, but it also speaks of a worldwide epidemic of violence against women. The fact of the matter is, in the US 1 in 4 women will be the victim of domestic violence. And almost one-third of female murder victims here are killed by a partner or family member. It's a shameful reality we just can't ignore.
Do you think women still face a double standard when it comes to sexuality?
Image via Albion Europe Aps/Flickr
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Comments 19
This isn't a matter of being called a whore. In many places in India, this is LEGAL, and even reccomended. Its a mindset about the worth of women that needs to change. Much more important than mearly accepting that women like sex.
I never encouraged my boys to "sow their wild oats" I encouraged them to treat women with respect. That whole double standard thing is not so prevelant now as it used to be. I think that those same women who like to be treated with respect, marry men who treat them with respect, and together, they teach their children that boys/men should treat women that way and that "sowing their wild oats" as you say is not a behavior that is really to be expected, congratulated or condoned in, or by, either sex, but that ultimately, the choice is up to the individual.
I with the4mutts, this story here isn't really about a "double standard" but more about hard core oppression of women in the country this took place in. So very sad.
Many men in India certainly do have outdated sexist views towards women, but women's rights are solidly enshrined in the Indian constitution and in the big cities, enforced. Considering the US has failed to end or even significantly reduce its own domestic violence towards women in spite of all the laws passed and the vilification of all men, we Americans are hardly in a position to cast stones at other countries, particularly India - where they have had women leaders!
No wonder American businesses are losing out in trade with those backwater perspectives of other countries!!!
It can be TECHNICALLY illegal all it wants, but the practice is still alive and well.
While this is an opinion article, those are often more honest than the "facts" and numbers articles.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-is-fourth-most-dangerous-place-in-the-world-for-women-poll/1/141639.html
Facts & numbers- 213 experts dubbed India the 4th most dangerous place in the world in India for women.
People have petitioned to have the laws re-worded, which shows, IMO, that the citizens don't feel that the existing laws are adequate enough to cover specific situations, like honor killings.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/honour-killing-definition-of-murder-indian-penal-code/1/170068.html