The issue of honor killings practiced in many different countries of the world and by many different cultures has been a worrying theme for Western society for decades. These days this problem has started to penetrate literature, the victims and witnesses of honor killings tell their stories, share horrifying experiences and describe the rules and laws in the societies they come from. This paper is designed to view the case described in the book “Burned Alive” written by Souad, a woman, who survived an attempt of honor killing. The paper explores Souad’s situation from the point of view of victimization theories, in order to find out how the woman might have provoked the crime against herself.
In modern society crimes and crime, theories are no longer examined in only one dimension. The investigations of murder cases and crimes of other types are being conducted concerning multiple layers of the crime, the relationships and interactions between victims and criminals, the possibility that the victim suffered self-inflicted consequences of their own behavior. The role of the victim is extremely important for the understanding of the crime and its motives. It is a very complicated subject and every case of victimization study or research is surrounded by multiple arguments and opposing opinions. This paper will be exploring the victimization theories in the book called “Burned Alive” written by Souad.
The book tells a tragic story of a Muslim woman, who originally comes from a small Islamic village, the name and location of the village are being omitted as the author is afraid to be uncovered. The subject this book raises, the honor killings, is the subject that has been bothering the world’s society for the last several decades. The story of Souad is sad and horrifying for people of Western countries. The issue of honor killings has been described in another very popular book, called “Forbidden Love”, but that story was proved to be fake and continues to be attacked by critics, especially the ones, who originally belong to Islamic cultures. “Burned Alive” is also accused of having multiple errors, yet this fact does not make the issue of honor killing less real. The concept of honor killing is unacceptable for Western societies, which have lived in gender equality for a long time and where the justice and law consider an intended planned murder an unforgivable crime. Many feminists create movements against honor killings, trying to protect the rights of women in the Middle East; Western people do not understand the tradition of honor killing in Islam and judge every case of the practice of this tradition known to the world. Despite the world’s protests against this practice, cases of honor killings are still being reported in various countries of the world, the list of such countries includes the UK, the USA, Canada, and European countries together with Middle Eastern, African and Asian countries. The reasons for honor killings are different. It could be cheating or having sexual intercourse before marriage, unplanned pregnancies, money and property partition, there are even cases of wives being killed by husbands for not preparing meals in time (Hameed-ur-Rehman, Daudpota, Arain, 2012).
In this paper, I will explore the tradition of honor killings from the point of view of victimization and its theories. The main theories of victimization are victim precipitation, lifestyle, routine activity theory and deviant place theory. Several of these theories are suitable for the case of Souad. According to the book, this Islamic woman has suffered an attempt of honor killing when she got pregnant without being in a marriage. A member of her family was ordered to kill Souad by burning her to death. The victim survived this crime, yet she was left to die in a hospital where her mother was stopped from committing the second attempt to kill the woman by poisoning her. In some cultural communities around the world, it is believed that a soul of an undignified person can be saved through the murder of this person. In such communities not only do women become victims of honor killings but there are also rare cases when men were murdered according to the same rules. In Souad’s situation, the most suitable theories explaining this woman’s victimization are the theory of victim precipitation, lifestyle and routine activity theory.
As it is explained in the book, women in Souad’s community had no rights, due to the patriarchal build of the society there, this is why a female member of such community is a constant target for all kinds of assaults and offends. Souad notes that women in her village were beaten up and punished for the smallest reasons, humiliated, exploited for exhausting work – these are patterns of physical and mental abuse. Theory of lifestyle adds more chances for a woman to become a victim of a crime, due to male domination and strict limitations for women, basically, a woman in the community, where Souad grew up, could always be blamed for something. A similar situation happened in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge when the country’s leaders created so many limitations that most of the citizens were sooner or later compromised and blamed for various small flaws (Seiff, 2014). In a society of such type, all of the members are potential “criminals” and “traitors”. Besides, in Souad’s individual situation, the woman became a victim of her own mistake. The theory of victim precipitation explains that in many cases an offender is provoked to commit a crime.
Souad was blamed for unacceptable behavior because she was involved in sexual intercourse with a man she was not married to, and as a result, got pregnant. According to the laws of Souad’s community, this type of deed was an unforgivable sin, and it provoked her family to attempt an honor killing. The theory of deviant place could also be applied here because if Souad lived in some other, less tolerant part of her country, she would not become a victim of a cruel tradition. It goes without saying that even though Souad’s case is related to all of these victimization theories, this does not justify her family’s reaction. Attempted murder is considered to be a crime all around the world. Souad was shocked by the actions of her family, she was scared and felt abandoned, at the same time, when she moved and became a part of Western society, she could not adjust her ideas and views on morals to the life there, restrictions and limitations, violence and punishments, guilt and exploitation had been constantly present in Souad’s life since childhood. It seems like women in communities of that type are born victims and die as victims.
The majority of countries and cultures, where honor killing is being practiced have developed movements fighting for human rights, protecting women. The bigger part of the population in those countries reject traditions like honor killing, it is also noticeable that women there are slowly and gradually trying to change the strict patriarchal structure of the society and become more independent (Mojab, n. d.).
Reference List
Hameed-ur-Rehman, M., Daudpota, A. G., Arain, A. W. (2012). The honor System Victimization and Islamic Restrictions for Global Communities. Web.
Mojab, S. (n. d.). The Politics of Culture, Racism, and Nationalism in honor Killing.
Seiff, A. (2014). Seeking Justice in the Killing Fields. ProQuest.