Honor Based Violence (HBV) is a form of gender-based violence. In some cultures, used to maintain a family’s reputation through the control of its members. While “honor” refers to a family’s standing and perceived purity, research states that HBV is a system where social actions and family reputation are interchangeably used to justify strict behavioral enforcement. These practices were from the beginning a matter of viewing individuals as resources within a family unit. Dating back to ancient times when women were seen as resources by the male members of the family, this form of violence can be found in various continents and countries across the globe. Incidents of male victims of HBV also exist.
The following text provides examples of oppressive practices rooted in a patriarchal mindset, such as gender-based violence and systemic control. Additionally, it contains mentions of casteism, honor-based violence (HBV), murder, cultural or religious justifications for violence, references to misogyny, and real-life cases of HBV that are not detailed.
Framing & Perspectives
While incidents of HBV occur in several cultures and religions, a majority of honor-based violence incidents were reported in Muslim-majority countries and Asian countries (Mayeda & Vijaykumar, 2016). In many of these countries, acts of shame, honor, and prestige can dictate a family’s status in the community and society. If the family or a member of the community brings dishonor, one way of restoring honor is by engaging in physical violence (Gill, 2019). Even amongst disputes, there is evidence of physical aggression being used to settle arguments (Varma, 2022).
Honor-based violence is often related to women, whose existence is also a paradigm of honor and virtue in a family. While bound by traditional norms and roles, women are expected to maintain their ideal image. Any (suspected) behavior or rumor that may ruin their chastity and bring the family’s name down, can lead to the murders of these women (Mayeda et al., 2018). According to Terman (2010), there are a few constant characteristics of HBV. First, the family members of the (female) victim are involved in her murder. Second, the perpetrator does not act alone – other family members or people of the community may be involved in the planning of the murder. Third, a simple suspicion is enough to warrant the crime – there may be no hard evidence of the shameful behavior the victim is engaging in before her demise. Lastly, HBV acts are planned and therefore different from crimes of passion.
While some may believe that honor killing is tied to one specific religion, there have been several cases linked to victims identified as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and non-believers (Terman, 2010). The stereotypes attached to HBV (south Asian or Middle Eastern families) may also mask racism and intolerance in non-HBV criminal cases, while also increasing tensions between communities.
Relevance
While Muslim-majority countries are mostly mentioned when talking about Honor Based Violence, India’s reasoning for HBV is often interlinked with casteism and maintaining caste purity (Varma, 2022). On social media, memes made about inter-caste relationships and the approval of the two families. While these memes try to lighten a serious societal matter, several families do take offense at inter-caste relationships which leads to cases of HBV being reported annually. For example, a Haryanvi family residing in New Delhi was enraged when they found out a niece in the family had married a boy from a different caste. The couple had to go into hiding for a decade while waiting for her male family members to cool down and put down their (literal) guns. The reconciliation was bittersweet, as the family regretted wasting the time that had passed and losing time with the newest member of their family. While cases like the former one are optimistic, the latter case shows that HBV is still a common practice. In January 2025, an American-Pakistani teenager was murdered by her father who did not approve of her videos on TikTok (Ng, 2025). It is important that governments create and enforce laws against HBV to eradicate the outdated practice.
Keywords: Gender-Based Violence, Purity, Casteism, Inter-Caste Relationships, Cultural Norms, Family Honor, Patriarchy, Traditional Roles, Social Stigma, Community Pressure, Femicide
Connected Terms: Internalized Sexism, Victim Blaming, Reproductive Rights, Acronym “LGBTQIAPN+”, Transgender, Cisgender, Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Misconduct, “Toxic” Masculinity, Housewifization
References
Gengler, J. J., Alkazemi, M. F., & Alsharekh, A. (2021). Who Supports Honor-Based Violence in the Middle East? Findings From a National Survey of Kuwait. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(11-12), NP6013-NP6039. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518812067
Gill, A.K. (2019). Social and Cultural Implications of “Honor”-Based Violence. In: Reilly, N. (eds) International Human Rights of Women. International Human Rights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8905-3_25
Mayeda, D.T., Vijaykumar, R., Chesney-Lind, M. (2018). Constructions of Honor-Based Violence: Gender, Context and Orientalism. In: Carrington, K., Hogg, R., Scott, J., Sozzo, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65021-0_46
Ng, K. (2025, January 30). Pakistan: US teen shot dead by father over TikTok videos. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8pvw3xxxeo
Sedem, M., Ferrer-Wreder, L. Fear of the Loss of Honor: Implications of Honor-Based Violence for the Development of Youth and Their Families. Child Youth Care Forum 44, 225–237 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-014-9279-5
Terman, R. L. (2010). To specify or single out: Should we use the term” honor killing”?. Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, 7(1).
Varma, M. (2022). GENDER AND CASTE CONNOTATIONS OF ‘HONOUR’ KILLINGS IN INDIA: MEN AND WOMEN AS VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENCE. The JMC Review, VI. https://www.jmc.ac.in/uploads/staticfiles/jmcreview/vol6/The%20JMC%20Review%20Mahima%20Varma.pdf
