Zeeshan Babar
7 July, 2015 First Victimized, Now Victimizing History tells us about how hundreds of years ago all men and women except for the one with power were oppressed by emperors and kings. They were allowed to do only what the emperor allowed them to do, and he could make them do whatever he wanted them to de. Even the one with power in the empire were not allowed to deny or disagree with the emperor, or else they would suffer the same fate as every one else. However with time people revolted and revolution came after decades breaking this tradition of monarchy, and making every individual free with their rights. Now every individual is said to be a free human who has natural rights. But even in these modernized societies after all that human race has experienced, and has been through the fallacy of appeal to tradition still exists. Appeal to tradition is the fallacy that a standpoint, situation or action is right, proper, and correct simply because it has “always” been that way, because people have “always” thought that way, or because it continues to serve one particular group very well. It is the notion that if an idea has been around for a while than it should be followed and is true. This fallacy is one of the major reasons that have been recognized for the oppression of women all around the world. This is particularly the matter in less developed and modernized societies. The women of these societies are oppressed as they are not supported by their families for education, instead they are against it. They do not think it is necessary for a women to be educated, because according to the tradition women are obliged to support their families and raise children. Basically there duty is to perform well inside a household , and have nothing to do about what happens outside the house. This is a traditional fallacy, because a woman is not obliged to do anything anyone else thinks she should. They are also human beings like others, and have natural rights. But people still follow this tradition as going against it would be disrespectful to their ancestors or simply disrespectful towards men. Other reasons people follow this tradition is because following it makes their life easier and more pleasing. Some even follow this fallacy for the reason that they think the natural flow will be disrupted if this natural tradition is altered. Many women have stood against this fallacy, and some have been even supported by some men which has resulted some changes in some places. Some Decades ago you would not find any female in a western side university, however that has changed, and now in the western areas like the United States and in Europe universities are filled with females. But this change is still to take place in a lot of other nations, and societies. These traditional fallacies have cost a lot to women of different societies as many of these traditions lead women to be seen with lesser equality, respect, and a being close to slave for men.
In different tribes of Africa, different traditions are followed by people which are very disturbing.
There a tradition in a tribe in Africa that if the husband of a women dies, she has to sleep with his brother in order to lay the spirit of the deceased to rest no matter what circumstances. Afterwards the women have to go without washing herself for 40 days, and she would have little food as according to the tradition the food she receives will be only given by the family of the deceased. The food they get depends on the goodwill of the husband’s family. This is another form of traditional fallacy which is humiliation of the female race. These traditional fallacies have made women to have little value in society, making them targets of bad treatment, and physical abuse. ( MAILA) . Another tradition that came to light with financial crisis in Africa was that raping someone bounds you and the women to get married. Because men for marriage could not afford to provide a dowry for up to 1000$, they resorted to sexual violence. According to tribal customs, a man who rapes a virgin must then marry her, and does not have to pay a dowry in order to do so as someone who has lost her virginity loses the right to demand for that. (Maila) These absurd traditional fallacies is also a reason for many women who kill themselves in the middle east and Africa. This fallacy has only cost women pain and cruelty. When ever people are questioned about why this is happening, they would have only one answer that this is there cultural tradition. Not following these traditions or going against them is a big taboo for those people, and they can not even imagine stopping it by themselves. Instead they get frustrated if someone talks about how this is a fallacy which has to stop. Even though men fought and lost their lives for freedom, equality, and to get rid from the evil Emperors and Kings, they have corrupted themselves following these traditional fallacies which leaves them no different than those rulers. They might have freed themselves from the rules of unfair kings and authorities, but they have yet to free the curse that has been there in our societies forever. This curse is the evil which is oppressing are women leading to their sad lives and suicides. People now think that the world has modernized and prospered way more than before but in my opinion there is no point of this prosperity if everyone can not even live the way they want to. This fallacy should and has to be stopped or there would be more victims, and a sad history for the upcoming generation to read.

Work Cited
MAILA, HERTIER. "War, Tradition Feeds Sexual Violence Against Women." Institute for War and Peace Reporting. 9 Oct. 2009. Web. 8 July 2015. <https://iwpr.net/global-voices/war-tradition-feeds-sexual-violence-against-women>.