Patriarchal violence in the name of 'honour'

Abstract

This article e xplains how notions or honour can act as catalysts for s o-called honourbased violence when ideas of family and community are c hallenged b y women, and highlights a number of recent and high-profile examples of honour crimes in the UK. A key question is how these crimes s hould b e regarded in the c ontext of our increasingly multi-cultural society. The article e xamines the way in which the British media have reported these crimes has misrepresented ethnic minorities and engendered a sense of mainstream moral superiority. Furthermore, it argues that a better understanding of the relationship between culture and morality could lead to a more nuanced approach to the construction of a human rights framework. But we must guard against two dangers: on the one hand the danger of universalising what are merely western feminist ideas of morality, and on the other of tolerating human rights violations for the sake of multicultural accommodation.