I am not a cultural relativist. It’s become a bit of a fashion for my friends on the hard left to adopt the idea that all cultures have some inherent value, and that to judge these cultures is to impose our own morality on others, which is another form of colonialism. I call bullshit on this idea. This isn’t to say that there hasn’t been abuse in this sphere, or that people in the West are not guilty of brutalizing the culture of others in order to make them fit into our societies. However, to ignore that there are still aspects of sheer barbarism that still exists in human cultures is simply wrong, and ignores the real suffering of oppressed people.
I propose that there should be a few criteria to judge whether or not a culture tradition is valid or not. The most obvious of these would be how a culture treats women. For thousands of years, the female of our species have been abused in countless societies. It’s a redress that we have yet to full implement here in the West. While things have vastly improved, women are still harassed and abused in our societies. The rates of domestic violence, rape and harassment only demonstrate the fact that as a society, we are still a work in progress.
But progress is not the same in every country. Take India as an example. The world’s largest democracy also happens to be it’s most volatile, with women being treated in much the same way as they were in Europe during the Dark Ages. In particular, single women are often the target of wild accusations of sorcery, usually born out of a desire to steal their land, and their lives.
Battles over land and property are common starts to witch hunts, says Soma Chaudhuri, a sociologist at Michigan State University who studies gender violence in India. Chaudhuri says witch hunts and beatings provide an outlet for men living in poverty to vent frustrations over their own lack of power.
The numbers are terrifying. From what Scientific American has gathered, thousands of women have been accused of witchcraft, being beaten, or even killed by mobs of ignorant and violent men intent on stealing their goods. It’s despicable, and an example of what happens when you hold women in such low regard. It’s wrong, and needs to be discussed without fear of being accused of “colonialism” for standing up for the rights of women.