Thursday, March 10, 2011

Marital Rape Increasingly Common in Pakistan

LAHORE, PAKISTAN--Gynecologists at several city hospitals have expressed their concerns over the growing number of married female patients who are forced into intercourse.

“The number of marital rape cases keeps going up but no one even acknowledges that the problem exists. We see dozens of patients coming in but they never acknowledge they have been raped; only that they were doing their duty,” says Ganga Ram Hospital consultant gynecologist Dr Shamsa Humayun. Dr Humayun said that she recently treated a mother-of-four, who had lost her pulse, consciousness and lots of blood pressure following a result of her third abortion. “I had warned her not to get pregnant because she had severe diabetes. I told her that her life was at risk but she chose abortion over contraception. Now she is dead,” Dr Humayun said.

Alviah Noor, who is working on her PhD research paper and recently got married, said that she had severe vaginal infection for the last six months and was heavily medicated to treat an infection caused by her intra-uterine system (IUS or coil). “The coil ruined my health but it was the only contraception I could use without my husband finding out,” she said, adding that doctors had prohibited her from intercourse but her husband refused to listen to her. “I have no choice in the matter. I have to do whatever he tells me,” she said.

Nilofer Raja* complained that her husband had several extra marital affairs and that she had contracted an STD after he forced himself on her. “He abuses me but I cannot refuse him. My family told me that it was my religious duty to do as he demanded and that if I refuse the angels will curse me all night,” she told doctors.

Shirkat Gah representative Fauzia Vikar said “the concept of marital rape does not exist in our society. She is thought to have signed a contract for sex. Even in US, the first marital rape case was reported in 1978. Most reports from battered women reflect that they do not think their spouses are guilty of a crime.” “Most women I have spoken to on the issue simply think that marital rape is natural. We need to educate and economically empower women so that they realise it is not their duty to tolerate abuse,” she said. According to Vikar, most women consider it shameful and a sin to oppose non-consensual sex. “There is almost no local literature available on the subject and not a single reported case to my knowledge,” she said.

Dr Ambreen Ahmad, a clinical psychologist who teaches at Lahore School of Economics said “We need to introduce couples counseling, especially before marriage because women need to know their rights. Many women consider it their ‘religious duty’ to undergo this when there is nothing in religion that condones such assault.”

According to Dr Rabia Ameen of General Hospital said “There is no sex education before marriage. This often leads to women contracting horrible diseases from unprotected sex. I feel terrible when I see young girls dying of reproductory problems because of irrational social expectations.”

Dr Ameen said “On average we deal with five cases of spousal rape every week and 90 percent of these cases occur within the first two weeks of marriage. Young brides aren’t aware that they have the right to put a stop to intercourse and we often see severe tearing and heavy bleeding in young women.” “I have lost count of the number of times I have simply stitched a vaginal tear and prohibited the couple from having intercourse for six weeks. The women almost always come back with the same problem because their spouses refuse to listen,” she said, adding “I now recommend that the woman stay at her parents’ house to be safe.” Dr Ameen said that women seldom know that it is even possible to be raped by their husband. “They think that it is their duty to go along with whatever their husband wants and all we can do is recommend a course of treatment,” she said, adding that doctors often knew that their patients would not be allowed to rest.

Dr Shamsa Humayun, a gynecologist said that patients don’t complain of sexual abuse from their spouses even when the evidence is overwhelming. “I have examined women with severe vaginal tearing, enough that they needed stitches, but they still never admitted they were assaulted,” she said.

According to a gynecologist Dr Asmah Mehmood “Very few women in Pakistan actually have a healthy sexual relationship with their spouses. Abuse is common and so is violence.” She said “I have seen a woman who was the victim of the constant rape by her spouse simply because he was addicted to pornographic films. She was abused so often that we eventually stopped even asking her what had happened.”

Dr Yasmeen Rashid said that in her 30-year career as a gynecologist she had never seen an official report relating to marital rape even though after delivery cases the most common cases she treated were related to women being sexually assaulted by their spouses. (Source)

7 comments:

Radical Moderate said...

"I come to you as a devout Muslim...let me be clear and state up front that unequvicaly for the record that the US has a signifcatn problem with Muslim Radicalization... Listen I am Muslim and I realize it's my problem and I need to fix it... It's unfortunite that some of the best work being done on radicalization is being done by non Muslims...Most Muslism condem that report when in fact its we Muslims who should of been doing that report...It is a problem that we can only solve, Christians, Jews, can not solve Muslim radicalization." Dr Zhudi Jasser, Lt Commander US Navy RET, Fmr in house medical staff US Congress.

US Congressional Hearings on Islamic Radicalization

Radical Moderate said...

The Panel hears from two Muslims who say there is a problem, and the father of Muslim revert who says there is a problem.

Then we hear from a Non Muslim, the LA county sheriff who says basically "There is no Problem here"

Radical Moderate said...

Mr Bihi (father of one of the Missing Somalia kids from MN who went all Jihadi in Somalia) testifies that a message was sent out by the Islamic center and Muslim leaders. That if Muslism reported their children missing they will wind up in GETMO, also they will be responsible for the eradication of Muslims and Mosques in the US.

Radical Moderate said...

Simply Amazing listing to the US Senate Hearing On Islamic Radicalization of Muslim Americans.

A senator from Texas, said and this is a paraphrase "We could of talked about the cold case files of the Civil Rights movement, or had a hearing on the Klu Klux Klan, or Jewish Groups and people attacking them" and here is the funny part she caught herself and said "ummm with out mentioning the relegion of those groups" So we can talk about any other terrorist group as long as it's not Muslim, and if they are Muslim then we can not mention the fact that they are Muslim. lol

Then she asks Dr Jassir, who in his very first sentence said "I am a proud Muslim". She asks him "Are you a Muslim?" Was this woman even listing.

Then she asks "Are there any Muslim here", and Mr Bihi raises his hand.

She then says "See we have Muslims hear co they are testifying." Again did she even listen to their testimony? They both testified how they were encouraged not to cooperate. In the case of Mr Bihi testimony he said "The Islamic Center and Muslim leaders said if people reported their children missing they would go to GETMO, and be responsible for the destruction of Mosques and Islam in America."

It does no good for Muslims to testify if the senators are not going to listen.

Radical Moderate said...

Sorry all, I forgot to post the link. This is all from the Hearings On Islamic Radicalization of American Muslims.

Watch Here

donna60 said...

This is confusing to me. Marital rape? I mean...my husband was pretty good at just sweet-talking me into bed.

GreekAsianPanda said...

The comparison I've seen some Muslims make between rape in the West and rape in Islamic countries like Pakistan isn't very good. Not that I'm saying that the Western world is all perfect and stuff, but here in the West, rapists go to JAIL, period. In contrast, husbands in Pakistan somehow escape being brought to justice. I don't know if it's because there are no laws in Pakistan that forbid marital rape or if there ARE laws but the women are afraid to say anything, but rapists get away with rape in Islamic countries quite frequently, it appears, and Islam is often used as an excuse. I don't suggest that Islam allows husbands to rape their wives, but to compare the problem of rape in the West and in Islamic countries just seems to try to ignore the problem.