I was reading the BBC today and I came across an article that saddened me. It was about Pakistani women who have acid thrown on them by husbands or in-laws for various reasons. But the article focuses on a woman whose husband threw acid on her because she was too beautiful. I was very shocked and surprised by that statement. In the West, women are spending hundreds- maybe thousands- of dollars a year to be beautiful, and they are shunned if they're ugly. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, women are being permanently burned by caustic acid because they are beautiful. To make matters worse, the perpetrator is rarely brought to justice for his deplorable actions. Sure, the women can have surgery to fix their faces, but who can afford it? And besides, even if their faces were reconstructed, maybe they would just have acid thrown on them again. There is a price to being beautiful that people in the West don't have to pay, and unfortunately, it's one that Pakistani women pay too dearly.
You can read the article here.
I heard about this, actually. I find it extremely wrong. But it also reminds me of the fact that back in the early 1900's, women were found "more attractive" if they were larger, bigger, "big boned", strong, or even just "fat". Sometime between then and now, the image of "attractiveness" changed from being big, to being small, skinny, thin and weak. It's quite interesting, really.
ReplyDeleteI find it rather surprising that this happened because the woman was "too beautiful": we are so accustomed to both males and females craving beauty so this was shocking. It does go to show though that no matter where you are in the world and no matter what your culture or beliefs may be, many people are extremely concerned about appearance.
ReplyDeleteOr even in some tribes in africa when a man asks you fro your hand in marriage you have to sit in a hut and drink nothing but milk and have fat rubbed on you for 6 months. the bigger you are the moremoney your man has to feed you. funny how diffeent things can be. i hope canada find its way again
ReplyDeleteThis is difficult issue when we are caught between "culture" and human rights.
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