Comment: ‘geveshi aniyaa ge’ bill lifts social taboo on domestic violence
12 Oct 2010, 3:26 PM
kashiveli
In Mauritania in North Africa, force-feeding young girls is a cultural practice under the socially-held belief that fat women are beautiful, desirable and a valuable asset, increasing the social status of the whole family.
Girls as young as five are forced to eat to gain weight, by means that can only be described as torture. Some die in the process.
In Mauritania, this cultural ‘norm’ is practiced openly and is accepted as the way they do things. In the Maldives too, we have cultural ‘norms’ which are accepted as the way we do things.
Ignoring and hiding physical and sexual abuse of women and children within the family has been the way we had handled this social problem in the past. The issue of violence within the home or domestic violence, has been a taboo subject so hidden that it did not even have a name, until now.
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