generalspeaking

Cultural Prohibitions

In the tribal mountainous areas of Pakistan, the culture is a strict and stern one.  It is a religion-bound and custom-fast heritage where patriarchy offends the human dignity of women.  If women are raped it is their fault for having enticed the man who raped her.  For women are known to flaunt their wares and men are simply putty in their harlot hands. 

A woman who has had intimate relations with a man other than her husband has lost dignity and honour and is outcast. As such there is none to protect her.  And she must also be punished for having brought dishonour to the male contingent of her family.  Punishment may end in death for the unfortunate Jezebel. 

Women must know their place in a Pashtun community, and their place is clear enough; to be obedient and chaste, to do nothing that would disturb the serenity of life where women must be unseen, unheard and totally submissive.  Women must be fully covered, top of head to tip-toe, no wisp of hair, no hint of bare skin.

"Sometimes we are criticized for making films that are too vulgar.  But that's what people want.  The recipe for a hit Pashtun film is good casting, great music plus loads of sexual innuendo and fighting."
Bahadar Khan, veteran film distributor, Peshawar

In the films that are screened for the pleasure of the gathered men, stars of the Pashtun cinema dance and sing, gyrating hips and bestowing upon all those watching, the gift of arousal.  Through a thick fog of cigarette smoke, men rush to the stage, dancing and carousing with the pleasure of libido unleashed in a collective orgy of sexual release.

"Pashtuns are not interested in Indian films.  They like the way we make them and they prefer our plot lines --- we do a lot of family vendettas", reflecting the values of Pashtun society: "I am a suicide bomb --- I'm so dangerous", run the lyrics of a popular female dance song.

And here's the kicker: although the films display scenes of unbridled licentiousness, wine and whisky imbibing, all the prohibited "western", dreadfully degraded cultural values that the mullahs and imams slam the ungodly West for, cinemas in Pashtun areas that thrive on the viewing of these films are not targeted by the Pashtun Taliban.

Labels: Culture, Islamism, Sexism, Social-Cultural Deviations

posted by Pieface @ Sunday, November 11, 2012