You make women willing slaves and it is definitely the duty of all women to fight against their own slavery.
"I think you have the rest of it backward. A man who follows the norm of his culture is not seen as foolish, he is only seen as making a fool of himself when he bucks the trend."
That or a hero if his trend pans out.
The coward and man who lacks honor will ignore his better ways and stick to the old status quo.
Such men are not worthy of respect.
Regards
DL
I have never made a woman a slave. I think you are mistaken. I have actually freed three women from honour culture, one not yet grown.
We are referring to honour culture, and not the word honor in the Westernized sense that you are using it. In most honour cultures, there is law backing the culture and creating great difficulties for women to fight against honour and modesty culture. You are insisting that the women of such a culture, women who (as Helaine has pointed out) have been raised from infancy to keep their mouths shut and take their beatings, that these women rise up and fight their culture and their laws so that they can hopefully be free to choose their own path in life. This is happening, have you not noticed? They are raising their voices and they are dying for it. Sometimes you have to decide if you want to live to fight another day. How dare you insist that the oppressed are responsible for their oppression?
YOU ARE BLAMING THE VICTIMS.
It is not the fault of these women that they are born into or find themselves in an honour culture. It is not even the fault of the men- how can you blame anyone for something that has simply been the way it is for a thousand years or four? It is the responsibility of the entire community to evolve past such culture. The public service announcements in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the changing of some laws there to support the rights of women are a good example of how one can start change in a culture where honour is deeply and seemingly hopelessly entrenched.
I do appreciate you bringing such issues to light and engaging in conversation about them, but you have so far blamed women for their lot, insisted it lies on their shoulders to change their lot, and also have claimed women should be honest with their oppressors so that their oppressors will supposedly gain enlightenment. All while assuming that oppressed women are aware of their oppression, rather than experiencing the psychological trauma one sustains in such an environment.
Such comments are harmful to the cause, rather than helpful.
It seems to me that you do not understand honour culture. That is a compliment.