INSECURITY GIVEN THE NAME OF HONOR KILLING; WAS QANDEEL BALOCH MORE OF A MAN THAN MANY MEN OUT THERE?

Qandeel Baloch who was once known as the queen of controversy is now famously known as Pakistan’s slain celebrity in the name of honor killing. Her only crime was flipping the script against the norms of the society she lived in. Qandeel Baloch whose real name is Fouzia Azeem was a girl who had dreams. No one told her that dreaming was itself a crime for her as she did not belong to a privileged class of the society.

Born into a lower middle class family Qandeel had higher ambitions than most girls her age. Born in Multan which has a reputation for being a conservative town she had no option but to get married young. Some claim it was a love marriage while she said in her own words that she was forced to get married. Put yourself in that situation and ask how difficult it would be to settle for something less than your dreams? Still she surrendered to the pressures of her family and the society at that tender age as she was only eighteen years old with no financial security.

Following a forceful union she dealt with an abusive husband and an unhappy marriage which led to their divorce. Qandeel was a fighter which many men nowadays cannot digest. Being a woman in this society is extremely hard on its own but she did not let that barrier stop her from chasing her dreams. She went ahead and moved to the city on her own. She got herself admitted in one of the shelter houses and started focusing on finishing her education. In an interview Qandeel mentioned that she had completed her bachelors in arts which is an achievement on its own and enough to instill insecurity in her brothers and male cousins who felt superior to her by gender.

This woman single handedly was financially supporting her parents and siblings. Qandeel wanted to make a name for herself but coming from a conservative family background her life became a hindrance in her way to achieving stardom. Not worrying about the consequences she continued to struggle in order to achieve popularity sometimes by making bold videos and other times by giving bold statements. Before Qandeel was murdered she stayed in the news constantly for her controversial actions. She was offending many by her actions and there is a strong reason for why she was being called the Kim Kardashian of Pakistan. It was because she was using her sexuality to get ahead in her career and gain popularity. For a lot of men that is indigestible as it makes them realize that every woman has that weapon and if we as women start considering Qandeel Baloch as a role model then these so called ‘virtuous men’ will have to bear the burden of the disgrace we bring upon them. I fail to understand why men have such weak egos when they have such strong muscles? As Spivak states, “There is no virtue in global laundry lists with ‘woman’ as a pious item. There will be no growth in the society if women are held to only one standard of morality.

Only if her brother had admitted to his insecurity of his sister earning more than him and having more authority then things would not have taken such a drastic turn today. We lost a fighter to a man’s insecurity and that is a fact which will remain until the end of time.