ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses some contemporary social issues, showing that ability to understand them requires contextual knowledge of regional constructions of kinship and family. A number of social issues around the world are both influenced by and affecting the intertwining relationships among kinship, gender, and the family. By the opening decades of the twenty-first century, acceptance of homosexuality was much greater, creating a climate that brought same-sex marriage to the fore. Abuses that have been reported within the communities are not the result of polygyny as such but are interwoven with the magnitude and style of the polygyny practiced and the isolation of the communities. It has been estimated that one in every three women worldwide experiences violence from domestic abuse, rape, or other assault. The event was an "honor killing," the murder of a girl or woman for the dishonor she brings to her kin with her illicit sexual behavior.
