Law, Custom, and Crimes Against Women

This is really the only article so far that has disturbed me. Not because of dowry practices themselves, but the perversion of them that has lead to a rise in "dowry deaths". Most appalling in it for me was the comment on a bride burned by her husband and mother-in-law. The expectation entering your husband's house is that the other women in the house will accept and help you, and it is a sad deviance when that has been lost in favor of more money. I don't have a problem with dowry or bride price systems when they are separate from violence, probably because I have a very fluid view of what marriage should mean, but the legislation the article discussed may well be necessary in stopping the violence. I also found it interesting that dowries have continued to increase and become slightly ridiculous, since income is not changing the same way. It is understandable for a groom's family to believe that their investment in their son is worth something, but there should be an issue when the price they ask is more than the bride's family makes in a year. Overall, I really liked the way this article was structured and how it outlined the problems and reasons behind dowries, not simply focusing on what happens when they are corrupted. It's this sort of cultural understanding and reasoning applied to a horrible situation that makes me enjoy anthropology.