ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on five areas of abuse: infanticide; foot binding, historical practice; genital mutilation; dowry deaths; and family violence. Female infanticide has a long history. This historic practice of burying female children alive is difficult to write and read about. To see and name clearly these sins against women is important. The foot-binding ritual is a traditional practice that no longer takes place in Asian societies. This practice numbed and denied identity to parts of a woman’s body. Genital mutilation of millions of young women in Africa is practiced routinely. African women are beginning to speak out against genital mutilation. Dowry deaths occur when newly married women are burned to death because they did not bring enough money as a dowry from their natal homes. Closer to home, the final area to examine is violence toward women in the United States.
