Honor Killings: When the Ancient and the Modern Collide

My latest SFGate column examines the rise of honor killings in the West, and the challenge to young Muslim women, as well as to Western feminists and other adherents to multiculturalism:

Throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, young Muslim women are being targeted for violence. Lest it be thought hate crimes are to blame, it is, in fact, their own relatives who are the perpetrators. So-called honor killings, whereby a Muslim male family member, typically the father, murders his daughter in order to defend the family's honor, is a growing problem.

While statistics are notoriously hard to come by due to the private nature of such crimes and the fact that very few are reported, the United Nations Population Fund approximates that as many as 5,000 women are murdered in this manner each year worldwide. Undoubtedly that's a low estimate, as reports from Turkey, Jordan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories, among other locales, are filtering in at an alarming rate. Add to the list Germany, Sweden, other parts of Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, and it's clear that young Muslim women in the West are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

Continue reading "Honor Killings: When the Ancient and the Modern Collide"

Update: A 2004 Solomonia post points to another honor killing that occurred in the United States--Scottsville, VA, to be exact.

Update (1/24): An NPR interview with Seyran Ates, a women's rights lawyer in Berlin of Turkish origin, sheds light on what she calls the "multicultural mistake" (h/t Phyllis Chesler).