Sorry, all too often the consent means only the consent of the male part of the populatin or the consent of majority (ethnic, religious, etc.) All to many times people don´t have a choice as to which culture they were born into and have to live in and don´t have the power to change their situation.

Melek, we are talking about the general aspects of society. There is no society on Earth where problems about choice have been completely solved. There is a certain interaction between coercion and people. Demands evolve within society and they are answered by way of laws, regulations and a new order is established by  the gradual  change of  mentality. If one individual is not aware of or does not have a need for a certain freedom which is considered necessary elsewhere, this would not be the problem of the system or the regime.

Just look at the world outside by remembering the conditions majority of people are in. If you want a feminist movement in Saudi Arabia which even in my book is nowhere near a true democracy, you should be able to create demand for sexual equality among Saudi women majority of whom essentially believe in the necessity of a male run society.  In Iran and Afghanistan too, women are oppressed by militia. Nevertheless, these are not democracies. Turkey is a democracy. There are laws like the Civil Code which was modeled around the Swiss Civil Code and the Penal Code that follows the outlines of the French one. Though not comperable to aforementioned countries, no gender discrimination is allowed in this country. A sizeable portion of society however are subjected to rules other than those decided by the Parliament. My Kurdish friends tell me, their family council would gather and decide on a honor killing should even a wire of his sister´s or mother´s hair is seen  by a stranger or should there be a rumour about her whether true or not. There are also feuds continuing for years. There is no way that such primitive traditions can be tolerated. I have written about those earlier. Nonetheless, it is not possible to correct them overnight by passing a certain law or by enforcing it. You need to play with the internal dynamics of that community and gain their consent. Since consent is always the keyword in all these matters.

 Not readily collated to hand no.  If you would like to forward payment I would be very happy and interested to prepare a thesis on this subject though

What is easily accessible to even the most inexperienced of googlers are statistics which show the increase in crimes involving children under 12,together with the medical evidence produced in court cases involving crimes committed by children involving torture/killing of animals/murder which show the children to have psychopathic traits.

Whilst I realise my comment about single parents is very un-PC, the fact remains that it is a factor.  Below is an extract from a book that may interest you:-

“The circumstances of children involved in child protection processes in Britain are different…from the majority of children.  Although there is a rise (generally) in the number of lone parent families, abused and neglected children are far more likely to be with one parent than the norm.  So whilst 73% of children in the UK live with both parents and 8% in reconstituted families, only 38% of those involved in the children protection process live with both parents” Ryal & Little, 2000

From Neglected Children and Their Families by Olive Stevenson

Olive Stevenson is Professor Emeritus of Social Work at the University of Nottingham where she holds a continuing contract for supervision of research. She is a pioneering figure in social work and holds honorary degrees from the Universities of East Anglia and Kingston. She is an honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Poly- university and at Kingston University. She was awarded the CBE in 1994. She has chaired five Area Child Protection Committees and currently acts as consultant to individuals and voluntary organisations and adviser to projects in the field of child protection and fostering.

Vineyards, I´m responding to your post where you are stating that we have to respect other cultures. This is what I am disagreeing with to an extent. Yes, we have to respect people´s choices, but we don´t have to respect all of them.

I´ll give you one more example to illustrate one more time what I mean and then I have to change the oil in my car lol.

Burqas - to me it´s a symbol of opression of subjegation of women. It might very well be that my perception of this is driven by my growing up in the West and influenced by Western values. I can however respect an individual´s choice to dress how they want to. If women feel strongly about being clad in burqas then it´s their choice and I can respect the choice itself. However for many women it is not a choice. It is a practice that is culturally sanctioned and forced on women and if they don´t comply the consequences may be gruesome. That aspect I don´t have to respect and I do not respect as a matter of fact. I´m not going to pretend I respect something when I feel its intrinsincly abusive and discriminatory. Im not giong to just say: "We are all humans, it is just that some of us are more fortunate than the others at this stage in human history." Oh well, right? What should I care if some women in a remote part of the world are forced to hide behind a sheet? It´s not me who has to do that, so I should just respect that because it´s their culture? Right? Well, this is what I don´t agree with - as a woman and as a human being. Same in the West, I can respect one´s right to have religious beliefs (for example Christians) but if those beliefs are causing suffering and discrimination (for example againt gay people) then I don´t have to respect that, do I?

I guess I´ll have to agree to disagree with you. I respect your right to a different opinion, but I don´t have to agree with it. 

 100% agree with this

Thanks for the book recommendation, it might be something worthwhile to research further.

Personally I haven´t heard of any correlation between the structure of the family (single vs. married parents) and the abuse of children (most statistics I am familiar with point to alcohol/drug abuse, parents being abused themselves in the childhood, education level, poverty, etc.), however, as shocking as it is, I don´t know everything and it might be something I need to read more about.

 Me too - that is why I like discussions with you - you are taxing my brain and forcing me to research!  It is better than just sitting at my desk playing solitaire and waiting until I can go home at 5pm

I do agree with you in generic terms

But I also want to add that I think there is a generic mistake people keep making here...

´Criticism does not mean you disrespect the people´..(I am not talking about the posts like  ´you menstruating Christian bitc.es, this is genocide blockheads etc´ or the people who think that type of post a kind of criticism)

But since the cultures are the shared  attitudes, values, goals, and the characteristics of peoples formations, they will be criticized. Same thing goes with  the belief systems too..Of course, any religion will be criticized too ..

Why is it necessary to criticize?

Excuse me but the criticism is a necessity for human beings!!

Nothing changes without criticism..

Think about it..just a simple example: If nobody criticized burning Jews in the middle ages, we would still be burning them..

We criticize, because the current truth or the way bothers us; because we think it is not how it should be..We criticize because we care about the things..

Criticism is the fuel for social evolution of human beings..

People who are trying to stop criticism of the cultures are simply making no good at all to the culture they are trying to protect.

But that does not mean you are disrespecting the people who lives in that culture..

Actually, it is true that children from single parent homes are statistically more prone to high-risk behavior, including teenage sex and pregnancies, as well as commiting crime. It is not because there is only one parent, but because those families have less supervision (mother is the only provider, and there may be nobody to look after the kid in teh meantime), less stability (maybe mom has partners that change periodically), etc..

Yes, exactly. People deserve respect, it´s not their choice what culture they were born in, and it´s not their fault that they were raised with one set of rules and not another. However, the culture and values do not deserve unconditional respect at all. In fact, we must criticize them so that the living conditions for people improve.

I agree with this sentence, however....... can´t you blame people for NOT changing (trying to) it? I don´t mean (illiterate) people somewhere far away from any help-source but e.g. educated people in countries where female circumsion is ´normal´ practice? Can´t you blame them for keeping everything the way it was? I don´t think so.