Today we compare two contrasting newspaper texts, both published in May 2012 and both dealing with criminal prosecutions of British Asians in relation to sexual behaviour. First, the Yorkshire Evening Post amongst many other newspapers freely reported the trial of Shafilea Ahmed's parents for their daughter's murder. Shafilea's murder was an 'honour killing' by parents who murdered their “Westernised” daughter because they believed her conduct was bringing shame on the family, the prosecution said.
Shafilea's sister Alesha gave evidence against her parents had tried to force seventeen-year-old Shafilea into an arranged marriage. Alesha witnessed the murder and reported the traumatic effect of inter-generational conflict, stating “My mental state wasn’t very good. I was living between the two cultures (and) trying to please everyone."
The Crown Prosecution Service stated: "There are many possible descriptions that can be applied to Shafilea's predicament, child abuse, domestic violence and honour based violence being just three." It is noticeable, therefore, that cultural sensitivities are being preserved in this statement: 'honour killing' is just one of three possible reasons given in the official report on the CPS website, thereby not attributing the crime to a cultural code. As an individual case, it is presented as a single example, not stereotyping Muslim ethnic identity, and what is more, as an example that "violence against women..occurs in all communities" (not just Asian communities). Ethnic sensitivities are preserved.
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| Crown Prosecution Service 03.08.12 |
My second text presents a contrast in the way that representation is presented. It is the notorious case of the Rochdale sex grooming convictions in May 2012. These criminal convictions identified Muslim ethnicity as being at the root of the issue. It had taken years for this case to come to court because a wide range of authorities either played down or refused to believe that there were cultural issues involved.
Baroness Warsi said that it was vital for ministers, officials and community leaders to accept that there was a problem rooted in culture. "There is a small minority of Pakistani men who believe that white girls are fair game and we have to be prepared to say that. This small minority who sees women as second-class citizens, and white women probably as third class citizens, are to be spoken out against. Communities have a responsibility to stand up and say, this is wrong, this will not be tolerated."
In conclusion, reporting a single case (Shafilea) does not jar cultural sensitivities nor appear racist in the way that labelling a whole sector of the community does.
We then move on to online community websites such as DesiBlitz.
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