Bad Acid Trip

(photo from The Guardian)

No, this post isn't about the Rainbow Family freaking out on LSD in the forest. It's about the barbaric practice of throwing acid on women's faces for a variety of cruel reasons. Recently, the Taliban in Pakistan has threatened to douse the faces of women who refuse to wear the hijab. That's pretty much par for the course on the Taliban, but apparently this practice exists elsewhere in the world. From The Guardian doing an investigation in India:

Acid attacks are a form of gender violence; they are intended to silence women who stand up for themselves. Women were being attacked for doing well at work, protesting against domestic violence, leaving their jobs – essentially whenever they demonstrate independence. There is a myth that women are only attacked with acid when they reject someone’s sexual advances. But we found that it happened for all sorts of reasons: women of all castes, classes and religions were being attacked by husbands, lovers, employers, jealous colleagues and even landlords.

Along with bride burning, honor killings, and genital mutilation, chalk this up to why it's good to be living in a modern country where this shit doesn't go on. Or does it? Right in Chicago, which is fucked up.