Women are treated in diverse ways across cultures, and diverse attitudes about such things as
promiscuity, adultery, and rape. The low status of women is somewhat pervasive, but in many cultures women
enjoy a high status. For example, In Borneo, medicine women are highly regarded so that male shamans
deliberately assume female habits and costumes, and are treated like women and do women’s work. There are
many avoidance taboos associated with women-from the avoidance of menstruating women, to the avoidance of
sexual contact with women during pregnancy or prior to certain rituals or expeditions. Sexually promiscuous
unmarried women are known in Normanby Island of Papua. In contrast, modesty in women’s behavior is
emphasized in many Muslim cultures in which the lust of women is thought to be greater than men. Among
French-Moslem people who live in Southern Algeria, the men, not women, wear veils. In many cultures such as
the Nivkh, it was fairly common for men to engage in seduction and rape. In some cultures it was customary for
brothers to share their wives. For centuries in India and among Native Americans Suttee was customaryimmolation
of widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands. The custom of the levirate prevails in many cultures
today, requiring a widow to marry one of her deceased husband’s brothers. Today, honor killings are a cultural
practice, mainly in the Middle East but also a worldwide phenomenon, in which family members will attack a
female relative-by stoning, stabbing, beating or shooting, in order to kill her for bringing dishonor to her family or
clan. A related aspect of honor killings pertains to the common practice for women or girls who are rape victims
to be killed by relatives.
