Saturday, March 14, 2009

Secret crime society ignores

From Gulf Daily News:
"It is stunning that so many Bahraini wives filing for divorce have been victims of violence at the hands of their husbands - 91 per cent according to figures published yesterday in the GDN.

I was also shocked to read that Bahrain's penal law exempts even rapists from punishment, if they are able to persuade the victim to marry them.

Given that society tends to put more blame on the victim than the rapist, I suspect quite a lot of women over the years have had to marry the monsters who attacked them.

To them, this would be the lesser of two evils, since they risk being ostracised by society as 'soiled goods', with no-one likely to offer them the chance of a genuinely loving marriage.

Violence within the home is a social disease that crosses all borders, so it is by no means unique to Bahrain.

But in many other countries, it is taken more seriously as a criminal offence, whereas here it is seen largely as a domestic issue, even when it involves violence against, or the sexual abuse of children."

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