We in the industrialized portions of the world sometimes forget just how primitive is much of the "developing" portion.
In various states in Africa, witchcraft is seen as very real and each year there are reports of arrests and executions for same.
As well, the local "witch doctors" still provide magical cures for AIDS and other diseases... There was an article on The World just a couple of years ago where in one of these nations it was believed that having sex with a healthy "pure" person would cure AIDS... So men were raping babies under the impression it would cure their disease.
Here , we would think such things the acts of insane persons; but in much of the world these horrific crimes are deemed acceptable.
I have listened to interviews with neighboring villagers in some of these "honor killing" cases who thoroughly approve of the murder... The only way the family could regain it's "honor".
In regards to the economic underpinnings of some of these practices... I suppose a case might be made that smaller dowries might be expected if the family honor was besmirched, or that the daughters might prove entirely unmarriagable, which would be an economic hardship in many cases.
Only peripherally related, but anthropologist Marvin Harris has pointed out that most all the strange religious dietary laws that exist have underpinnings in economics.
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