The Nahmias Cipher Report archived articles from 2009 - 2020.
A mother or father deserves justice when their child has been raped and they should not have to fight with the courts to have the perpetrator sentenced as prescribed by the law. A single-mother should not be judged as somehow complicit in her child’s sexual abuse simply because she finds herself in the unfortunate position of having to work outside of the home to support her family.
Read MoreAyanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:24 PM EDT, 27 June 2014
LOS ANGELES, California -- In August 2011, Catherine Kieu Becker, a Vietnam-born woman also known as Que Anh Tran, brutally attacked her husband severing his penis. At that time they resided in Grove Garden, California. Today, nearly three years later, Becker has been convicted and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after seven years.
Now 50, the infamous ex-wife has supplanted Lorena Bobbitt as the new face of women who castrate their husbands. Unlike, Lorena, Catherine Kieu, had not been abused, but instead appears to have been driven to violence by jealousy.
Kieu and her then husband married in December 2009, but in May 2011 he filed for divorce, which was granted in August 2011, according to Orange County court records. Despite the fact that she and her ex-husband had no children, it seemed that Kieu was not ready to relinquish the relationship.
According to other reports, shortly before the incident, the couple argued over a friend staying with them. Apparently, her husband thought little about the incident, or at least he didn't fear for his safety because he and Kieu enjoyed a dinner together.
It was during this meal that according to prosecutors, "Kieu laced her husband's dinner with the sleep medication Ambien, and once he fell asleep, Kieu tied his legs and arms to the four corners of the bed. She waited until he awoke before pulling down his pants and cutting off his penis with a knife."
Once again the similarities between Bobbitt and Kieu are striking, but in the case of Lorena, she drove off in her car and threw her husband's severed penis out the window. She later led the authorities to the general area where she had thrown out 'his member,' whereupon it was located and later surgically reattached.
In Kieu's case, she seemed intent on her husband never being able to perform as a man again, as she threw his severed penis into the garbage disposal, turned it on and mangled it. After this vicious assault, Kieu called 911 to say that her husband was bleeding and required attention. Upon the paramedic's arrival they saw the severity of his injuries and immediately took him to the hospital for emergency surgery.
The victim is a battered man, and if not for his physical castration people may have scoffed at his predicament. But, the abuse perpetrated against him by Kieu cannot be healed with psychotherapy. Her ex-husband, 60, according to the prosecutor's office, described the trauma in an impact statement during Friday's sentencing.
'The convicted (person) viciously deprived me of part of my life and identity," the ex-husband told the court. "Then, as is routine in cases of violence that involve something sexual, the victim must endure, at the hands of the defense, a second attack. This was a cruel and calculated violation of a person's body and mind. I now struggle with what is before me. She has torn off my identity as a man. She has caused doubt in my belief in good. She has betrayed my trust in people." Source: CNN
Kieu's defense team's strategy seemed to rely on the success of the outcome of Bobbitt's acquittal on the grounds of temporary insanity. However, despite their claim that Kieu suffered from mental health issues, including depression, it was a stretch to claim that she was a victim of the battered woman's syndrome or acted in defense of her life.
Her claims do an injustice to the many women in this country and around the world who are abused physically and mentally by their partners until they break and either harm themselves or their victimizer. Fortunately, for women's rights, the jury didn't buy into Kieu's defense and today, she was sentenced to life in accordance with the April 29th jury verdict of one felony count of torture, one felony count of aggravated mayhem, and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a knife.
Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter Twitter: @nahmias_report Editor-in-Chief: @ayannanahmias
Lorena Bobbitt and the politics of hate (avoiceformen.com)
California ex-wife sentenced for cutting off husband's penis (cnn.com)
Crime History: June 23, 1993: Lorena Bobbitt gains notoriety after slicing off husband's penis (dccrimestories.com)
Lorena Bobbitt has moved on two decades after cutting off John Bobbitt's penis (nydailynews.com)
SOMALIA - Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of the most egregious women's rights abuses globally. It is a subject that is hard to discuss because of its intimate, sexual and graphic nature.
However, it is precisely because of the lifelong psychological and physical effects this barbaric practice has on its innocent and unwilling victims that it is incumbent upon us to publicize this abuse until it is eradicated.
This issue was first brought to the public's attention by Waris Dirie, Somalian author, activist, and victim of FGM, when she published her memoir titled 'Desert Flower.' The book was subsequently made into a movie in 2009, and Liya Kebede, an Ethiopian supermodel, played Waris Dirie in the heart-wrenching but ultimately a victorious story of survival.
Initially, when we featured a post about this topic, several readers commented about male circumcision and how this is just as barbaric as FGM and should also be classified as a human rights abuse.
Though any type of unwanted genital mutilation is indeed a crime, the significant differences between male circumcision and FGM are as follows:
Most boys are circumcised at birth, or in the case of Jews and some Muslims, on the 8th day of life;
Men who are circumcised later in life often elect to have this procedure for personal, religious, or health reasons;
The surgery is performed in a sterile environment, usually under anesthesia;
Male circumcision is usually performed in a non-invasive manner that ultimately results in few if any adverse psychological effects.
By comparison, FGM has more in common and correlates best to physical castration in men.
Girls who undergo FGM (aka female circumcision) are forcibly mutilated anywhere between 13 and 15 years of age;
The 'procedure' occurs without anesthesia in unsanitary environments;
Rusty razor blades, old knives, or shards of glass are used to cut the flesh;
The clitoris and the inner and outer labia are torn away;
Finally, the wound is crudely stitched together and must be cut open for sex and childbirth.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are benefits to men and boys becoming circumcised, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
"Strong evidence from Africa indicates that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection in heterosexual men by 38-66%, and studies have concluded it is cost effective in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends circumcision be recognized as an intervention as part of a comprehensive program for prevention of HIV transmission in areas with high endemic rates of HIV." (Source: WHO)
The effects of FGM are profoundly debilitating and deleterious to women's reproductive health and serve no useful purpose. It is a practice deeply rooted in misogyny, tyranny, and the concept of women as chattel.
Men who have been circumcised can still enjoy a robust sex life filled with numerous encounters, whereas women who have undergone FGM must suffer immense pain to remove the sutures. As one can imagine, sexual intercourse thereafter would be excruciating.
In Europe, between the 16th and 17th centuries, the 'Chastity Belt' was developed to prohibit women from having sexual intercourse. This device was also a contrivance of men desiring to control the sexuality of women in their societies. A 'Chastity Belt' was infinitely less egregious than FGM but a women's rights violation.
Surprisingly, FGM procedures are rising in Western nations such as the United Kingdom. It is easy for most people to acquiesce in the face of such a daunting problem occurring halfway across the world. It is also more comfortable to believe that this is an Islamic problem though FGM is not prescribed in the Quran.
It is easiest to effect change in one's backyard. Thus, in Western societies where there are no health reasons to recommend FGM, it is up to the medical establishment and authorities to intervene and halt these procedures.
Misogyny, like rape, is less about the object of abuse, in this case, women, and more about control. The net result of FGM is that it diminishes all women everywhere, even if it hasn't personally impacted your life or those of your friends and family.
Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter Twitter: @nahmias_report Editor-in-Chief: @ayannanahmias
Medics Offered Genital Mutilation, Report Says (news.sky.com)
Medics 'offered genital mutilation' (express.co.uk)
Investigation Exposes Awful U.K. Doctors Willing to Perform FGM [Unkindest Cut] (jezebel.com)
Female Genital Mutilation Being "Offered" In UK (inquisitr.com)
100,000 women undergo genital mutilation in Britain and some are 10 -year-olds (kractivist.wordpress.com)
Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 21:03 PM EDT, 13 July 2011
CALIFORNIA - Catherine Kieu Becker who lives in Grove Garden, California, called 911 Emergency Services after she cut off her husband's penis and mangled it in a garbage disposal. This is not the first time that an American wife has cut off her husband's penis.
In 1984, Lorena Bobbitt severed the penis of her husband, John Bobbitt after he returned home and raped her following a night of heavy drinking. Unlike Catherine who mangled her husband's penis in the garbage disposal, Lorena left with the severed penis, drove a short while, then rolled down the car window and threw the penis into a field.
She subsequently stopped and called 911 and after an exhaustive search, the penis was located, packed in ice, and taken to the hospital where John Bobbitt was being treated. The penis was re-attached by Drs. James T. Sehn and David Berman during a nine-and-a-half-hour operation.[Wikipedia]
At this time, the reason for Catherine's assault are unknown. By contrast, Lorena Bobbitt revealed during her trial the volatile nature of her relationship with her husband. She told a packed courtroom that her husband sexually, physically, and emotionally abused her during their marriage and that John Bobbitt flaunted his infidelities, and had forced her to have an abortion. [Wikipedia]
What makes the cases against Catherine and Lorena so sensational is the visceral response men have to this crime. Their penises are a potent symbol of their manhood, are the instrument by which they can procreate or rape, and one of the most sensitive areas of their bodies. Because the perpetrators of these crimes are women, who in most societies are by and large viewed as passive victims, the only explanation offered is that they must be 'crazy.'
When a woman castrates a man, the action is tantamount to an insurrection by the 'weaker sex' and in any other country but America the offender would have been summarily executed. This was the case with a woman, known as Zarmina, executed by the Taliban at the Ghazi Sports Stadium, Kabul, November 16, 1999. She was a mother of seven children who killed her husband after he severely beat her.
Castration has been used as an instrument of war for thousands of years. After battles in some cases, winners castrated their captives or the corpses of the defeated to symbolize their victory and "seize" their power. The amount of media attention devoted to the rare incidents of male castration by females is inordinate compared to the global scourge of female genital mutilation.
Female Genital Mutilation (FMG) also known as Female Genital Cutting (FCC) or Female Circumcision has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as all non-surgically necessary procedures performed on girls and women to mutilate their genitalia. The damage wrought to these women's vaginas is heinous and equivalent to male castration but media attention to these crimes pale by comparison.
Although surgeons can reattach a man's penis there may be reduced performance, a female victim of FMG suffers life-long health issues. These include urinary and reproductive tract infections, caused by obstructed flow of urine and menstrual blood, various forms of scarring and infertility.
This is not an argument in support of what Catherine Kieu Becker and Lorena Bobbitt did to their husbands, but rather an indictment of societies that continue to support misogynistic practices that go unnoticed and unpunished around the world and in many North African countries explicitly required to preserve the 'sanctity' of a woman's chastity.
In the American justice system we are judged by a jury of our peers. In 1984 this judicial system declared Lorena not guilty due to insanity. The verdict is still out on Catherine Kieu Becker but it will be interesting to follow her case.
Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter Twitter: @nahmias_report Editor-in-Chief: @ayannanahmias
On 2 August 2010, the Organisation of First Ladies of Africa (OAFLA) met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. OAFLA decided to make its permanent office in Addis Ababa at its 7th January 2010 meeting. At the meeting they discussed the improvement of the lives of women in Africa through the management and eventual eradication of HIV/AIDS. These remarkable women are also committed to poverty alleviation and gender equality. OAFLA was instituted to fight against the spread of the deadly virus across the continent through education and the implementation of preventive measures among their country's populations. OAFLA also convened on 20 September 2010 in New York to participate in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit, on the issue of women and children malnutrition.
Read MoreThe Report seeks to challenge readers to move beyond the accepted standard fare purveyed by most media, often demonizing and convicting an entire society and citizenry. Rather, The Report asks readers to recognize themselves in the “other” and assign blame to the miscreants who truly are the culprits of many of the atrocities that negatively impact us all.
