Culture and Values Strongly Influence Sexual Violence
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Rape, abuse, verbal violation of ones sexuality. These are all concepts that terrify us all. Interpersonal violence, more specifically sexual violence, is a worldwide concern. Violence against children and women bring long-term repercussions, whether its physical or psychological, it affects to a great extent the proper function of societies. The eternal debate on how to stop these transgressions and their inefficient practices are nowadays failing to solve the problem. Not until leaders and the community itself realizes their laws dainty work properly and their cultural values bring these aggressions to a horrifying limit, this problem will come to an end.
To begin with, all communities rely on their culture to form and model their day-a-day lives. It is well known that culturally (and historically proved) men will always establish a social pyramid; meaning that the lower bottom is more prone to be violated. There is a strong classification and labeling of the “weaker sex” and “the manipulated little kid” that empower the top of the pyramid. This misconception where female are considered having less social and economic power give lable human beings as inferior, for example: Why is the thought of electing a woman president of the United States so unthinkable to most of the population? Just because culturally a woman does not appear suitable or even capable to run a nation as important as the Unite States. This is proved wrong in nations like Germany where Angela Merkel guides the nation to prosperity. In oriental lands women are religiously limited as well. For instance, when a woman in Mid East tried to convert into Islam and faced the next situation: “Narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas: Ikrimah (Newspaper) reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas, saying: I think the Apostle of Allah said: When one of you prays without a sutrah, a dog, an ass, a pig, a Jew, a Magian, and a woman cut off his prayer, but it will suffice if they pass in front of him at a distance of over a stone’s throw.” (Sunan Abu Dawud 704). This translate into; women are as unworthy of praying to Allah and enjoying any religion as animals and denigrating concepts such as “ass”. The underlying belief in womens inferiority seems to be so ingrained in our collective psyches that no one seems able to break this mindset.
Furthermore, laws and policies dont necessarily assist in alternating norms linked to violence. Nations like Afghanistan own laws that even encourage denigration of women. The freedom that men have to please their will towards womens bodies is unlimited by the law. For example, “Nilofar was in a taxi when the driver leaned back to grope her chest. Fereshta was walking home from work when a motorcyclist slowed down and grabbed her left breast. Mariam had been slapped so hard on her buttocks by a man in the bazaar that it left a bruise. Elaheh was at a bus stop when a young boy pinched her inner thigh” (NBC). The types of public harassment they described ranged from sexually charged comments about appearance, indecent whistling, and physical attacks like groping, pinching, and slapping. In Afghanistan, this objectification and mistreatment of women is all too common. Sadly, research shows that nearly nine out of ten women are forced to endure such treatment and it is fully tolerated by the law. Moreover, we know that children are another vulnerable group, they are physically, socially, financially and emotionally dependent on adults. Internationally, more specifically in South Africa, the lack of policies regarding children protection and their rights is a growing issue. While statistically 25,862 children are victims of sexual assaults annually,South Africas president, Jacob Zuma, reaction to its country being in the higher rank of child abuse was null. He created a mandatory report of child abuse nonetheless, the term child abuse does not include verbal, emotional or psychological abuse. Incredibly stories of sexual violence are still held secret, only reported, shamefully, by the children´s family. “One child is raped in South Africa every three minutes, according to a 2009 report by trade union Solidarity Helping Hand”. Facts like this tell us a lot about the countrys main concerns and what they are clearly neglecting.
Finally, cultural prevailing attitudes encourage the happening of sexual violence and future generations are not taught to change these morality Education plays the main role in this point because the ethics that are taught to the youth are wrecked, sexist and lack of principal values overall. For example, several Syrian´s newspapers state that “Syrias value the need for a good education and intellectual development. Public demand for education has remained strong, reflecting the importance of education as a means of social progress” (TheSyriaTimes). Aware of the added value of education to the world of work, the government continues to innovate and update the education system in order to produce a qualified and competent workforce to meet the economic and social needs of Syrians. However, in the public and private sectors there is a strong belief that sustain the promotion of violence, gun-handling, and war-concepts teaching development and training is seen as an investment for future generations. This erroneous impartition of education is shared by several first-world-countries. In the United States itself lay school social s and ideological concerns. The Huffington Post reads in one of its latest articles; “Spring is coming, which means we are entering the season of the regulation of how much skin girls around the country are allowed to bare. Dress codes, while usually regulating boys’ slovenliness, tend to police girls for how much of their bodies are visible. Anyone who’s ever painted or stood in a room surrounded by a women silhouettes can tell you that white space is defining and when we talk about dress