Analysis Of Ayaan Hirsi Ali Speaks Of Honor Killings And...

Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks of honor killings and forced marriages in Middle Eastern society in the The AHA Foundation 2nd Annual Conference. She begins with describing her personal situation when she was younger; her arranged marriage to a relative and then her escape to the Netherlands at the age of twenty-two in an effort to avoid this marriage where she was met with an entirely different culture where the pressure of the honor of the family was not forced upon females by both female and male parties within the family. She noted how Dutch women wore what they pleased, failed to have rigid curfews, had romantic relationships as they desired, and did not have to obey their male guardians in every aspect contrary to the adamant regulations imposed on women in the Middle Eastern society she grew up in. She describes how the difference between regular domestic abuse and honor violence is that honor violence is justified by the perpetrator by their culture and religion; they claim they have no other choice because the woman in question defiled the families honor and there was no other option available other than to kill her for the sake of honor. When a woman born in this culture begins to defy her family, the family will either commit an honor killing, or marry the girl off, Ali states. When honor killings are performed they are almost always made to look accidental, and can range from shootings, stranglings, drownings or even beheadings when a point is to be made to other