Mothers and ‘Honour’ Crimes
June 28, 2017
Rachael Alpin says honour crimes are often committed by women
“HONOUR” crimes against Muslim and Hindu women — such as forced marriages, confinement, beatings and murders of adulterers — are often aided and incited by women, a British police detective and researcher says.
Feminists often cite honour (“honor” in American English) killings and abuse as proof of innate misogyny. But the detective’s findings complicate this view.
The BBC reports:
“Honour” abuse is usually associated with women from Muslim, Sikh or Hindu backgrounds and happens when they are seen to have “shamed” their community. It can also affect men, with some charities saying male abuse is underreported.
In Mrs [Rachael] Aplin’s research, the abuse perpetrated by mothers included hitting, kicking and slapping, assault with household objects, cutting off daughters’ hair and deception in order to encourage a fleeing victim back home.
Other behaviours included threatening to kill the victim or throw them downstairs, bartering to sell them, false imprisonment, emotional blackmail, confiscation of passports, bank cards and mobile phones and emotional blackmail.
Mrs Alpin said: “The instinctive reaction from the public and from police officers and social workers is that mothers protect and nurture and love their children. But actually we need to rethink that.
“Mothers are the key perpetrators in abuse against daughters, and this is mostly abuse pre-marriage. So it’s not necessarily abuse against wives once they’ve been forced into marriage.”
