Acid attack

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Acid attacks are a violent phenomenon that primarily occur in parts of certain South Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and are often perpetrated by males against females. Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims, burning them. The consequences are multiple: permanent marks on the body, disfiguration and potentially blindness.

The chemical agent used to commit these attacks is either hydrochloric acid, widely available in South Asian countries as a toilet cleaner or sulphuric acid from batteries. Because the chemical causes severe disfigurement, not death, this easily accessible chemical has become the popular weapon for attacks against women who refuse sexual advances and offers of marriage made by men. Acid attacks are not often classified as domestic violence, because they usually originate outside of the home[citation needed].

Critics of these attacks consider them evidence of deep-rooted misogyny present in these societies. This stance is aggravated by the lenience of punishment for these crimes—convictions peaked in 2002 at 87 out of 410 attacks [1] — and the attitudes that characterize the perpetrators as victims—spurned suitors whose revenge qualifies as “poetic justice.” Detractors deem acid attacks another manifestation of social structures that demand women and girls unquestioningly submit to male authority.

On the other hand, there is a protective attitude that declares this perception of acid attacks as inherently Western, another example of Western ethnocentrism that characterizes "other" Eastern countries as “barbaric” and/or “backward.” Supporters of this stance often claim that these practices, their prevalence and their significance are taken out of context by the Western media and greatly exaggerated. As evidence, it is alleged that acid attacks are frequently the subject of Lifetime original movies, and have been inappropriately referenced by primetime television shows such as Family Guy and The Simpsons.

However, there have been several culturally local voices, joining what was once a primarily Western discourse on the subject of acid attacks, deeming them horrific acts of violence. On March 8, 2002, many men and women in Bangladesh marched against acid attacks.


Contents

[edit] Debate and Relief

The debate between East and West often obstructs social disease recognition. Primary examples of this problem frequently concern women: acid attacks, clitoridectomy, honor killings, and sati, to name a few. The debate of East vs. West is repeatedly invoked to prevent local agitation for change, creating the discourse in “Us vs. Them” terms. This makes it difficult for those located within the society to protest the practice in question, characterizing them as “anti-culture” or “pro-West.” Although it is necessary to proceed with caution, when critiquing a practice that is fundamentally foreign to the critic’s way of life, no amount of cultural difference can disguise a human rights violation.

[edit] Victims

Although acid attacks mainly target women, there has been a case in which a man was deliberately attacked by a woman, another where a man was attacked by a male and several other situations where men were inadvertently harmed due to their proximity.

In the first case, a man who divorced his wife was targeted by her with acid on two occasions [2], permanently losing sight in one eye in the first assault. She was arrested after chasing him in the streets, when police discovered that she was carrying acid, intending to attack again. In the second incident, a Muslim cleric in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, was accused of attacking a male student with acid because the student refused his sexual advances. [3] Female attacks on males are comparatively rare.

[edit] Acid Attacks around the world

Such attacks are not unknown in various parts of the world.

[edit] Related Social Problems

Acid attacks are differentiated from dowry harassments, where women are harassed for increasing dowries after marriage, and punished (often with death) for failure to obtain the requested amounts of money or goods. The method of killing these brides is typically by fire, due to the notorious instability of oil cookstoves that are then blamed for the attacks. Although these deaths are often deemed accidental, the incidence of dowry burnings has only recently subsided, due in large part to the penal and preventative legislation introduced by the Indian Union. Unlike acid attacks, these dowry-related assaults and murders are orchestrated most often by the mother-in-law, and represent a spin on the traditional view of misogyny as male-perpetuated.

Other practices, perceived to be misogynistic problems by their critics, that occur within parts of South Asia are child marriages and sati. Moreover, there is a prevalence of abandoned female: children, widows, aged parents, mothers, as well as the method of female foeticide, that attest to the misogynistic overtones still common within sections of South Asian countries.

[edit] See also


[edit] External links

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