Honor Killings

 

I know this is a bit dated, but Rana Housseini spoke in October about her research on honor killings in Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, and the United States. She is a Jordanian feminist and journalist who was introduced to the concept of honor killings when she read about the murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. Her brother killed her in order to preserve the honor of his family. Thinking the situation a bit odd, Housseini went to investigate the matter. Through her research, she found that the girl’s brother had continuously raped her and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She became pregnant, got a dangerous abortion, and was then married to a man thirty-seven years her senior. When the husband divorced the girl six months later, her second brother picked her up and killed her. Housseini told another story where a mother axed her daughter to death because she was thought to be getting out of a taxi. All this done in the name of honor. Ms. Housseini concluded her speech stating that no culture or religion advocates murder. Furthermore, her research on honor killings spans all cultures and countries. All in all, how much of a role does religion play in the culture? If honor killings occur cross-culturally, what role does religion play in those?