Qandeel Baloch, Pakistani social media star, and 'honor killings'

[soleiltropiques]

OP: I wanted to post an article about Qandeel Baloch herself, since readers may not be familiar with her.
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Qandeel Baloch: How her murder reflects a divided country

Comments

[kunklebunkle]

Infanticide, femicide, honor killing is a huge problem in India as well particularly in the uneducated, poor, brainwashed portion of the country. This whole business involving "bringing shame" to your family is entrenched in certain parts of our community that it is disheartening. But the difference between India and Pakistan is that the judiciary in India sides with the victim and there is no loophole wherein family members can forgive the culprit. That's just bullshit. You will see news about young couples belonging to different caste or religion being targeted on a daily basis in Indian newspapers.

[natyanayaki]

"there is no loophole wherein family members can forgive the culprit."

Umm, Indian society often forces/manipulates rape victims/survivors to marry her rapist and quite often the family is the driving force and that is a forgiveness loophole for the rapist.

[kunklebunkle]

That is very different from having a law in place that legally allows people to do it. If the brother kills his sister for bringing shame to the family, there is no provision in place wherein the the family members can forgive the brother and the police would just move on. What you are talking about is something completely different. I am commenting on the laws in place not the society's attitude towards the victim.

[natyanayaki]

It isn't just society's attitude. India LEGALLY allows (male) rapists escape jail time if the victim (victim's family) consents to marriage.

Edited because my original wording came off incredibly rude.

[calinewarkwc69]

Another well done and informative post. I get into a lot of heated discussions with "MRA's" or "meninists" or whatever they want to be called and they always want to act like western culture is so above it all or that American women can't complain because Muslim women are being killed and I'm always going off on them not to 1) make death or abuse a competition between women (like they do with everything else) and 2) remind them that over ten thousand women a year in the US alone die at the hands of a man, usually a spouse, and you know, there is work to be done on behalf of ALL women, no matter where you are or who you are. Men everywhere need to stop thinking they're entitled to murdering us.

[soleiltropiques]

Thanks! I'm so glad you liked it, although I was mistaken regarding the nationality of the author, as I mention below.

And ugh, I think you deserve an award for trying to reason with MRAs. :-D

[soleiltropiques]

I was wondering about that too -he's lovely. :)

[natyanayaki]

Thank you for posting this article

[soleiltropiques]

"I would like to point out that the woman who wrote the article is a Pakistani journalist and as such I think it is important that she is allowed to describe her experiences as she sees fit. Additionally, as a South Asian (American), I find that the last paragraph is a perfectly appropriate way to describe certain aspects of modern South Asian society

[natyanayaki]

"It was however in no way my intention to deny the importance of different culture and history, however, and I'm sorry if that didn't come across. This is actually something discussed in some detail in the links I provided above -i.e. that violence against women manifests in ways that are shaped by culture, history, etc."

Oh I understand, I guess my rant wasn't directed at you necessarily, just the attitude that has taken hold of these discussions -- at least online.

Also, I have gotten to know you/your posting style enough that I assumed you didn't realize the Journalist is Pakistani so it's all good. I just thought that I should point that out. :)

[soleiltropiques]

"Oh I understand, I guess my rant wasn't directed at you necessarily, just the attitude that has taken hold of these discussions -- at least online.

Also, I have gotten to know you/your posting style enough that I assumed you didn't realize the Journalist is Pakistani so it's all good. I just thought that I should point that out. :)"

Well thanks for the compliment! :)

I really should have checked, so thanks a bunch for correcting me! And now that I look over my initial correction, I think I should have mentioned that it is a very different thing for a British person of Pakistani origin to criticize, than for a white British person to do so.

Ugh. I'm an idiot. :)

A question: what has been the attitude/tenor of discussions regarding this issue online, if you don't mind my asking? I'm genuinely curious.

[prlsb4swiine]

Thank you for posting this op. It's been an exhausting week and so many people (even other Pakistani women) have come up to me and said such terrible things and I'm like why?? What justifies this murder of innocent women like what kind of mental gymnastics do you have to do to sleep at night honestly?? And then literally white Fuck boys are coming up to me asking me how I can be a feminist and a Muslim and how I can accept being treated as second class etc etc ugh
And she wasn't murdered for being being "racy" (and lbr she's not the most racy person in Pakistani media), she was murdered for speaking up against women's rights violations

[soleiltropiques]

You're so welcome. I'm really sorry you've been subjected to all that.

Her death is so sad and tragic.

[natyanayaki]

Fuck those fuckboys. That's really disgusting that people are putting yourself through that. And fucking fuck anyone who thinks any one person is responsible for speaking for the entirety of one country (which is what those people are doing to you).

I'm sorry you're going through that.

[prlsb4swiine]

Thank you for the positive thoughts love <3 just moving forward with love and positivity