While it's true that violence against women still exists in America, our approach to the problem is profoundly different from societies where violence against women is explicitly permitted as a matter of settled law. There is a huge developmental gap between American society and Islamic society when it comes to treatment of women.

If you can't see past the blind spot created by cultural relativism you will make absurd moral equivalencies between civilized societies and societies that still are in primitive stages of development.

I agree with Siskind. More attention needs to be paid to the crisis of violence against women in our country. Chessler does a great job of describing the differences b/t honor killings and domestic violence. It is important to understand the differences so each can addressed in the right way. However, both are unacceptable and must be stopped. I hope the media and politicians give this crisis the attention due.

I think male egos are very fragile, and I think religious stuff, not any particular religion, but the type that give men god like authority in the family, sometimes sets this type of stuff off.

Some men, not all men, don't like it if a woman is smarter, or a woman is making more money or expects to share the power when making family decisions.

Someone's father who used to be a principle once told me, he could always tell when the bright girls were trying to impress a boy, because suddenly they would appear very stupid and sometimes even be sent to the prinicipal's office.

As someone who thought forty years ago I deserved it; I now know violence against women is violence. Period

And it is permitted here in the US

We must remember that cultures like religion have a singular purpose....to keep their people in the same mind space. For many, it creates a sense of security. But it prevents real change. There are not referendums or amendments that allow for new interpretations.So be very careful when you use religion and culture as an excuse for bad actions. Think beyond and begin the change.

Excellent article and analysis of an argument I'm so tired of hearing from so-called feminists. Violence against women and girls is NOT inherent to any culture nor does cultural sensitivity have anything to do with ignoring women's rights.

To think otherwise is to buy into stereotypes that imply culture monolithic. It silences the diverse voices within cultures and the women, men and transgendered individuals who protest violence daily. Aasiya obviously did not claim violence as part of her culture -- or she would not have tried to leave the marriage. So why is it that her murderer's culture does? Are they not of the same culture? Why does his action of violence and sexism represent Islam, while her act of courage and resistance to violence does not? Our stereotypes need to be examined here.

An honor killing is just domestic violence on steroids.

As usual, whenever the subject is violence against women, we veer off the topic: every culture in the world supports violence against women. We must refuse to accept it, in whatever form it takes, in whatever country it shows up. It's time to talk about the fact that the USA is a highly misogynistic country. If you don't think so, you're not paying attention.

As a guy, physical violence, threats or intimidation has always been an option for us for the obvious fact that we are stronger and more durable than women. Thats our advantage and sometimes we choose to use it, women in general are almost defenseless in this regard.
Laws and police can act as a deterent for men, but ultimately it is upto women to make us rue the day we would choose to physically use violence against them. A domestic abuse system radically skewed towards womens protection would be an appropriate justified response. (taking reality into account)

Poor women, single mothers, unwanted pregnancies, single male income families incest, sexual abuse and prostitution are all inherently female problems, which men use to gain systematic power over women. I'm not sure what women will need to do, but men getting what they want/need won't change, the trick is to use it to your advantage.

And lets not become anti-violence in general, conceptually it is stupid, because we have alot of wars and tolerate alot of violence done overseas. Business with its greed and possession, the military with its violence against the body, politics with its skewed reliance on representation and beuarocracy are all attractive vocations for men, not so much for women. Thats a problem. The decreased importance given to academia and medicine is said to originate in the increasing role women have come to play in them.

Here is my problem. At one point in my life, I wanted to volunteer at a women's shelter but decided not to do so. The reason was upsetting in itself. If a woman, who was just beaten up by her man told me that she 'looooved him' and wanted to go back to him, I would probably have had the urge to slap her myself.

What is it with women living in the U.S. of A. continuing to stay and return to abusive relationships? There is one thing to love a person and another to stay with him. We have got to stop being punching bags!

"Particular lethalness?" When a man kills his wife, she dies, usually after suffering for many years, the victim of extreme domestic violence. How is one method particularly lethal?Intelligent people should be able to discuss all aspects of this particular situation, without being forced to subscribe to one feminist camp of viewpoint.

It is way past time for us to address domestic violence in some meaningful way. We need to move to a place where a woman does not have to be murdered in order for her husband to have committed a real crime. I don't claim to know how we do that, while preserving everyone's *rights* in the situation.

Genni2002: There are many reasons women in extreme danger don't leave. One may be the knowledge that if they do, their husband will find them and kill them. Another may be that they have never worked, have children and no prospects for earning a living. There are many reasons, but you're right that they need understanding, not another slap.

The violence begins in the womb. Females by the million are aborted in China and India etc. When I lived in the middle east bedouins would simply bury females in the sand. As a Canadian working abroad, I gave birth to a girl in "progressive" Jordan. There , in a private hospital, the night nurse told me I was lucky to have a healthy girl. She said doctors will only get out of bed if a new born is in danger, ONLY IF it's a boy...they don't bother if it's a girl !
I wonder if millions of people from a specific tribe or country were exterminated would the world stand for it? I think not.

The feminists posting here fail to see that Islam is irredeemably misogynist to a degree seen in no other culture. It's the same NOW mindset that countenanced Bill's womanizing and overlooked Hillary's shame for remaining in that travesty of a marriage.

"the progressive feminists, on the grounds of multicultural relativism, are trying to close down the whole discussion before it begins."

Name one. The essay doesn't mention a single person who is trying to "close down the whole discussion"; instead, it cites a New Agenda piece warning about "many commentators," also without naming one.

It is precisely this sort of ranting persecution complex which makes the problem of domestic violence so pernicious.