Men on Acid

A story and video on reconstructing faces after acid attacks...

Acid has become a common weapon – partly because it is cheap, a bottle costs about 60 cents and partly because conviction rates are low. The reasons for the attack are varied - from going out without the husband's permission, neglecting the house or children, to cooking a bad meal.

...Although most victims of acid attacks are 25-35 year old women, more than 5 per cent are babies. Mr Hiles of the Acid Survivors Foundation saw one-month-old Durjoy when he was brought to the clinic with his mouth so badly burnt that his chin had melted down onto to his chest. His lips were almost closed, and he cried as he wheezed in and out. He had been force fed acid by his aunt, who was later found to be mentally ill. Although he desperately needed surgery, the baby was so weak from not being able to swallow his food that doctors had to put him on a high-protein diet and wait until he was stronger.

Stipulating that men can expect to have sex with his wife at least "once every four nights"

The laws coming out of Karzai's Afghanistan seem bizarre even by Taliban standards. Here are some new rules to abide by... No, this is not an April Fool's joke.

• Women can only seek work, education or doctor's appointments with their husband's permission.
• Article 132 requires women to obey their husband's sexual demands and stipulates that a man can expect to have sex with his wife at least "once every four nights" when traveling, unless they are ill. This in effect is said to legalize rape within a marriage negating any need for sexual consent between married couples.
• Only fathers and grandfathers are granted custody of children.

One has got to love the logic behind some of this warped thinking...

"Men and women have equal rights under Islam but there are differences in the way men and women are created. Men are stronger and women are a little bit weaker; even in the west you do not see women working as firefighters."

- Ustad Mohammad Akbari, an MP and the leader of a Hazara political party. The Hazara party is being courted by Mr. Karzai in a bid to win the upcoming elections. From here.

A digital appropriation of Piet van den Boog's oil paintings at Mike Weiss

Yemeni memo

This was to talk a bit about articles in obscure newspapers from countries other than ours. Now, one might ask, what is the point of reading articles in newspapers from other countries when one does not have the time to keep up with the latest Lindsay Lohan narrative here. Well, the thing is that newspapers with stilted reporting help in the development of stilted perceptions in their readers minds. These perceptions collate to create biases toward social and cultural situations. Biases reinforced over large groups of people manifest in the development and strengthening of stereotypes and mores of behavior directly influencing social actions and contracts…

A friend alerted me to a couple of articles in the Yemeni Times (no, I do not read the Yemeni times on a daily basis, in fact it was the first time I had been to this site, but the articles I looked at showed aspects of cultural reporting different from our own and blurb on the site indicates that this was Yemen’s most widely read newspaper).
In one article, the reporter takes a cozy,' let me reason this out to you over tea' kind of attitude and coolly develops an argument that centers around why beating up women might actually be good for the overall society and then goes on to talk about advantages inherent in violence against women. What really got to me was the campy attitude with which this person pulls off the narrative.

If a man and woman are husband and wife, the Qur’an provides solutions, firstly reaffirming any logical and acceptable reasons for such punishment. These solutions are in gradual phases and not just for women, but for men also.

For men, it begins with abandoning the marital bed, by opting to sleep elsewhere in the house. After this, they may discuss the matter with any respected person for the husband’s or the wife’s family, who could be in a position to advise the wife. If this also does not work, then the husband yields to beating the wife slightly. They do this because of a misunderstanding in the Quran, as the word says Darban, which is commonly understood today as beating. However, in Classic Arabic it means to set examples or to announce and proclaim. The more accurate meaning of this last one is that the husband finally has to set forth, to make a clear statement or proclamation, and if these measures fail, then divorce is preferable.

Fathers are responsible for their daughters’ behavior, but human rights organizations deny this too. Brothers also should take action regarding their sisters’ behavior, especially if their parents are too old or dead. If a daughter or sister makes a mistake – especially a moral one – that negatively affects the entire family and its reputation, what’s the solution by such organizations?

However, things are not as dire as enunciated. The same newspaper also reports that an 8 year old girl has finally resorted to end her marriage by going to court and filing for divorce from her 30 year old husband. No, I did not get the age of the girl wrong.

“My father beat me and told me that I must marry this man, and if I did not, I would be raped and no law and no sheikh in this country would help me. I refused but I couldn’t stop the marriage,” Nojoud Nasser told the Yemen Times. “I asked and begged my mother, father, and aunt to help me to get divorced. They answered, ‘We can do nothing. If you want you can go to court by yourself.’ So this is what I have done,” she said.

Shatha Ali Nasser, lawyer in the Supreme Court confirmed that item number 15 in Yemeni civil law reads that “no girl or boy can get married before the age of 15." However, this item was amended in 1998 so parents could make a contract of marriage between their children even if they are under the age of 15

Every once in a while, it does help to see what is talked about in newspapers around us.

Sunil, 'Abuse', Computer Art

Today

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day.

Guess the commemoration is still relevant - see here...

Excerpt: An Amnesty International report describing a relatively short civil war in Côte d'Ivoire documents case after case of girls and women, aged "under 12" to 63, assaulted by armed men. The more recent and thoroughgoing report by Human Rights Watch records the rape of children as young as three years-old. During the civil war, women and girls were seized in their village homes or at military roadblocks, or were discovered hiding in the bush. Some were raped in public. Some were raped in front of their husbands and children. Some were forced to witness the murder of husbands or parents. Then they were taken away to soldiers' camps to be held along with many other women. They were forced to cook for the soldiers during the day and every night they were gang-raped, in some cases by 30 to 40 men. They were also beaten and tortured. They saw women who resisted being beaten or killed by a simple slicing of the throat.

Many women were raped so incessantly and so brutally -- with sticks, knives, gun barrels, burning coals -- that they died. Many others were left with injuries and pain that still linger long after the war. Many who had been scarred as girls by "excision" or FMG (female genital mutilation) were literally ripped apart.

The Amnesty report coolly says: "The brutality of rape frequently causes serious physical injuries that require long-term and complex treatment including uterine prolapses (the descent of the uterus into the vagina or beyond)" -- one has to wonder what lies "beyond" the vagina -- "vesico-vaginal or recto-vaginal fistulas and other injuries to the reproductive system or rectum, often accompanied by internal and external bleeding or discharge." It notes that such women usually can't "access the medical care they need." Some still find it hard to sit down, or stand up, or walk. Some still spit up blood. Some have lost their eyesight or their memories. Some miscarried. Many contracted sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. No one knows how many of them died, or are dying, as a result.

Toot, toot!

The painting below completed last year is included in a group show, titled ‘¡Presente! Homenaje a la Mujer’ hosted jointly between Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, California and Amnesty International USA. The theme of this show is to focus on Amnesty International USA’s ‘Stop Violence against Women’ campaign. The show begins February 2008 (end Feb). I am not too sure if we would be able to ship this painting over to LA (it is pretty heavy, Medium Density Fiberboard 3.5 feet by 4.5 feet tends to be about 80 pounds). I am negotiating to see if Giclee prints would suffice….

Sunil, 'Battery', Oil on MDF, 36" X 48"