Have you ever heard the "One Semester of Spanish Love Song"? It´s hilarious. Here´s the YouTube link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngRq82c8Baw; it is for Spanish, but I´m sure one could as easily be made about Turkish or any other language .

I haven´t heard about that one, but I´ve read about the changes in laws about forced marriages that were discussed earlier. Here´s that link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7747267.stm

It´s UK now, but hopefully, other countries will follow. It´s a big (and yet still too small) step in the right direction.

I think you made a good point previously and I commented on it drawing on my personal knowledge and experience. You have a right to disagree with me and express it, although I do think we agree more than you´d allow it to admit. I do see, however, that you are incapable of having a civil discussion/debate/exchange of ideas without it turning to be about you. You surely should start realizing that your style of communication is hurting you as some people (including myself) have difficulty taking you seriously despite some good points that you do try to make. I´ll have to join vineyards in his recommendation for you to seek professional help. Until then, I do not intend wasting any more of my precious time either reading or responding to your posts.

You´d use biraz to say "a little" and çok az to say "very little"(as in almost not at all) - so I think it´s a difference in degree - to me biraz is more than çok az. So, for example, to say "I speak a little Turkish" I´d use biraz and probably mean that I know some grammar and quite a few words. If I used çok az in the same sentence, I´d probably mean that I know how to say hello and ask where the bathroom is in Turkish.

Quoting femmeous

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: JORDAN, 20% APPROVE TO BE BEATEN

(ANSAmed) - AMMAN, NOVEMBER 25 - Around 20 percent of Jordanian women approve being beaten by husbands to discipline them, according to a survey conducted by the department of statistics that was published today.

...

fantastic mentality!

Seems shocking, doesn´t it? Why would someone approve of being beaten? Well, we need to turn to psychology a bit before we judge those women. It is not uncommon for a victim of any violence to identify with the perpetrator. When you are in an abusive relationship your self-esteem begins to deteriorate rapidly. If you´re told or shown by the abuser´s actions (somebody you perceive to have authority over you) that you´re worthless over and over again, you soon start to believe it. For some women, the erosion of self-esteem is so great that they actually begin to believe they deserve the abuse and that they brought it on themselves. If there´s nobody to tell them otherwise they will live by that belief.

Of course it´s not a true representation of the numbers due to underreporting and other difficulties in collecting data. It does illustrate, in my opinion, the prevelance of the problem, but in no way the numbers are exact. You can only imagine how much more serious the problem is if you adjust for that. I have difficulty understanding what you find funny about the report at all, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Here´s a link to a very informative and comprehensive report about DV:

http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/digest6e.pdf

Page 6 has some statistics from a selection of countries. It does illustrate how widespread and universal the problem is.

What I´m wondering is in any society where DV is so prevelent what is the difference between the men who abuse and those who don´t. Maybe looking at those factors would help in addressing the issue. It could be educational level, economic, religious, upbringing, history of being abused themselves, evil media, take your pick. At some point there has to be a shif in thinking or attitude and it would be interesting to explore that as well.

I was referring to Western societies where the system is de jure if not de facto egalitarian. I do see your point though and all too often what it´s supposed to be like is not what it is in reality.

 One family it happens to is one too many.

I agree. It is difficult to generalize the actions of a minority (or even a majority) of a population to the whole nation and attribute a behavior to one group vs. another. Research consistently shows that within-group diversity is greater than between-group diversity. As human beings in general, we´re more alike than different and maybe some behaviors are better understood as human as opposed to cultural phenomena. As a society however, we need to take responsibility for what we do with that and what actions we take to curb/eliminate that behavior.