Policing Patriarchy: Honor, Violence and Manhood

Abstract

In a prison in Erbil, I met four men who had killed their wives or female relatives. They did not regret their crimes. On the contrary, they were proud of having restored their honor and their manhood, and were rather surprised at being punished for this. For them, the violence they committed, and the honor they referred to, seemed to be very much about maintaining, defending and confirming their manhood and masculinity. As Nagel puts it, it is men who are “the real actors,” irrespective of whether women are seen as symbols to be respected or as physical and sexual beings to be suppressed and controlled. In either case, it is about men’s honor and manhood (2005: 400).