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On December 16, 2020, LBC TV (Lebanon) aired a talk show discussing wife beating. Ahmad, a guest on the show, explained how a woman is a "commodity" whose only role is to serve and please her husband. Giving an example, he said that his wife has been bathing him daily for 18 years, sometimes even outdoors, so that people can see how much "respect" she has for him. When asked by the TV show's host, Malek Maktabi, what he would do if his wife doesn't want to have sex with him, Ahmad responded: "I rape her. With force, with violence. I would force myself on her." Demonstrating on a doll how he beats his wife, he also said that if a wife refuses to do as she is told, she should be slapped several times across the face. Ahmad elaborated that should she still refuse to get up, he would "pour gasoline all over her and light her up."
Earlier in the show, Samaher, a Lebanese woman said that she is "200%" in favor of wife beating, and that women whose husbands beat them should not run to the police, to family, or to neighbors. She said that they should "solve their problems at home." Zina, another guest on the show responded that any woman who accepts her husband beating her is an animal and deserves to be beaten, she added that if her husband were to beat her she would: "break his arm and tie it to his neck." Samaher answered that sometimes men beat their wives out of love, adding: "I want my husband to beat me!"
Samaher: "I am 200% in favor of [wife beating]. If a wife cannot put up with her husband when he is annoyed or tired, if she cannot put up with her husband when the financial situation is bad... If a man returns home with no money, not even enough for a pack of smokes and some bread – even if he has nothing – his wife must put up with it. If he is my husband, it is not all about 'my dear,' 'my love,' and then complaining about him or causing trouble when he slaps me. No, you have to put up with that.
[...]
"If your husband slaps you, don't run to the police station, to your family, or to the neighbors. Solve your problems at home. Don't run here and there, to institutions, to associations, or anything like that. There are children involved, children that could be lost in the streets. And for what? Because he slapped you? Come on... We should examine why he slapped you in the first place. Maybe she provoked him, and he slapped her?"
[...]
Zina: "A woman is a human being, not an animal! Whether you got married in a church, before a sheikh, or in a civil marriage, there is no document that says he can beat you. When I marry someone, I want to live in peace and security, and not to open the door for an angry man who will punch me, or beat me if he does not like my cooking. What you are saying makes no sense. And why do you generalize? A woman who accepts a husband that beats her is an animal. That is no life. This is no marital life, it's like living in a cattle pen."
[...]
Samaher: "Sometimes, the purpose of beating is to draw her attention, out of love, so she will not make things worse."
Zina: "Can someone beat someone he loves?"
Samaher: "Yes."
[...]
Interviewer: "What if your husband threatened to slap you?"
Zina: "I would break his arm and tie it to his neck, because I will not accept being beaten."
[...]
Samaher: "As a Middle Eastern woman, if my husband beats me in front of everyone, I would not say he is wrong. My husband, my honor."
Zina: "This is a woman who deserves to be beaten. You deserve to be beaten. If we weren't inside this studio, I would knock you down."
Samaher: "Bring it on."
Zina: "Women like you deserve to be beaten. What do you say about that? It is my right to defend myself."
Samaher: "So defend yourself. I want my husband to beat me. I want my husband to beat me."
Ahmad: "[My wife] should wait for me until I return home. Then she should see what I need and what I want. The woman, for me, is like a commodity. She should do exactly what I want."
Interviewer: "What do you mean by 'commodity'?"
Ahmad: "She's a commodity, she is nothing. Nothing."
Interviewer: "What do you mean?"
Ahmad: "I married her only so she could fulfill my wishes and serve me. That's it. If I want a bath, she should bathe me. I never bathe on my own."
Interviewer: "And if she doesn't want to?"
Ahmad: "She will do it anyway."
Interviewer: "Why do you want her to shower you?"
Ahmad: "She has been bathing my for 18 years."
Interviewer: "For 18 years? Every day?"
Ahmad: "Yes, every day."
Interviewer: "Who?"
Ahmad: "My wife."
Interviewer: "Where does she bathe you?"
Ahmad: "Sometimes in the bathroom, and sometimes we go to the garden next to our home, so people can see how this woman respects her husband. Is this something to be ashamed of?
[...]
"If I tell her to bring me a glass of water, she should go as fast as a bullet and bring it to me. And if I tell her to bring me some food, she will do it."
Interviewer: "And if she doesn't?"
Ahmad: "She will get two or three slaps across her face. Get up and bring your man a glass of water!"
Interviewer: "And if she doesn't get up?"
Ahmad: "Then I would pour gasoline all over her and light her up.
[...]
"A woman's role is to serve her man. Just as he works hard [to make a living], she should work hard for him at home."
Interviewer: "You beat her."
Ahmad: "Yes. You said two or three slaps. Then what? If she doesn't get up, I give her more slaps. Until she gets up and brings a glass of water to her [Arab knight] Antarah ibn Shaddad, who works hard all day long. Who is supposed to serve him?
[...]
"Leila, go bring me a glass of water. I want to drink, I came back tired."
Leila: "'Go get it yourself. Can't you see I am watching a TV show'."
Ahmad: "Leila! Go get me a glass of water! I came back tired from work."
Leila: "'Can't you see I am watching a show?'"
Ahmad: "What show?"
Leila: "A Turkish one."
Ahmad: "That's just great! Turkish, you say? You don't want to get up? This is what you get."
[...]
Interviewer: "What happens if your wife tells you 'no'?"
Ahmad: "When I want to have sex with her?"
Interviewer: "And she doesn't want [to have sex]."
Ahmad: "Since when can she do what she wants?"
Interviewer: "She doesn't want to [have sex]."
Ahmad: "If she doesn't want [to have sex], I rape her."
Interviewer: "How?"
Ahmad: "With force, with violence."
Interviewer: "How?"
Ahmad: "I would force myself on her."
Interviewer: "But she doesn't want [to have sex]."
Ahmad: "And what about my needs?"
Interviewer: "You should wait."
Ahmad: "I cannot wait."
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