Cultural Expectations Can Lead to Violence Response

Cultural expectations can lead to violence Response to Take action against gender violence (letter to editor, Dec. 5) Woodstock Sentinel Review Letters Section Wednesday December 12, 2007 http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php?id=306&x=story&xid=361366

I would like to remind readers much of the violence that goes on, even though it may be men committing violence against can actually be about cultural expectations or a clashing of cultures and more significantly, about changes in our society due to feminism. [I am writing this in response to the letter Take action against gender violence: http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php? id=306&x=story&xid=359569].

A recent example is the alleged murder of a 16-year-old girl, Aqsa Parvez, of Mississauga, by her father, Muhammad Parvez, on Dec 10. And of course, from the past is the example of the killings by Marc Lepine (Montreal Massacre, 1989). When differences in cultural beliefs come between people, whether within families, on the job or in the school environment, the results can be tragic. Rather than see all violence committed by men against women as simply against women - a result of ‘men being men’ in inappropriate ways - such violence could be looked at in terms of a changing society, one in which the expectations of women conflict with the traditional, cultural beliefs and values upon which many men have been raised.

For women to expect that all men will fall into line without expressing confusion, discontent or anger at seeing their standing in society diminished or their cultural values ignored, is as unreasonable as the expectation many men once had that women should stay home and take care of the kids.

Sue McPherson Oshawa

This page is being made available through Sue McPherson's website: http://samcpherson.homestead.com/homepage.html Date posted: 15/12/2007

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