In some south Asian cultures, "exorcism therapy" is a common treatment for marital woes. Unholy Matrimony by D. Trull Enigma Editor dtrull@parascope.com For richer, for poorer, for better and for worse, as long as wedded couples both shall live, there are always gonna be plenty of marital problems around to have and to hold. In American society, a variety of options are available for those who wish to mend their troubled relationships, whether it's visiting a marriage counselor, consulting with clergy, or appearing on 60 Minutes to sheepishly salvage a presidential campaign. But in parts of south Asia, there's a whole different line of treatment: couples there sometimes try to drive the evil spirits out of their marriage using the services of an exorcist. Exorcism therapy is fairly commonplace in India and Pakistan, founded on the principle that personal problems are caused by the intrusion of demonic forces, and are not necessarily the responsibility of the individuals involved. That notion is distressing enough in and of itself, but here comes the really scary part: it seems that the partner possessed by malevolent spirits is, for some reason, always the woman. If there's discontent in a relationship, the reasoning is that evil demons have entered the woman's body and forced her to disobey or mistreat her husband. She is sent to a local priest or holy man who attempts to exorcise the sinister presence, using incantations, spiritual music and forms of hypnosis. The exorcist often puts the woman into a trance and commands the evil spirit to speak through her. In her hypnotized state, the wife might reveal secrets about her husband's cruelty, or admit to having desires for other men. In some cases the woman fabricates an elaborate history for the demon possessing her, explaining who it was in its previous life and what purpose it seeks in its current meddling. The stories told by the "spirits" almost always indicate that they were once the victims of failed relationships or unrequited love who had killed themselves out of despair. Women also go to see these exorcists to treat problems other than marital difficulties, such as general unhappiness, loneliness or depression -- the sorts of conditions for which Western society would prescribe a psychiatrist. Some observers have noted that these exorcism sessions seem to serve as a release for these women, who are confined and stifled by their patriarchal culture. Treated as second-class citizens and forced into arranged marriages that are frequently without love, wives are kept inside the home and virtually forbidden to socialize with anyone -- with the exception of their religious leaders, whom women are free to visit as they please. Thus, an exorcist may be the only person they can talk to about their problems. In the view of some anthropologists, exorcisms provide a needed outlet for these women to air their pent-up frustrations. Now, if these demon-chasing ceremonies involved nothing more than a little chanting, a little role-playing and some healthy scream therapy, that might be okay. But unfortunately, the exorcisms often don't stop there. If the trances and invocations do not succeed in driving out the foul spirit, the exorcist will up the ante by beating the woman with sticks or whips. The rationalization, of course, is that the exorcist is assaulting the demon, not the woman, and her cries of pain are actually issuing from the evil spirit. But you can be sure there's nothing spiritual about the bruises and lacerations left behind on her body. In the 1992 case of a Pakistani woman who was subjected to a particularly brutal exorcism in Britain, the exorcist went so far as to stomp her repeatedly with the full force of both feet. She later died from her injuries. The exorcist was convicted of murder in a highly publicized trial, but the case drew such attention only because it occurred outside of Asia. Imagine how many other fatalities may have gone unreported back home. Isabelle Nabokov, a researcher at Princeton University's anthropology department, is disputing the notion that exorcism therapy has a positive effect in any way for Asian women. After witnessing 24 exorcism ceremonies in southern India, she has concluded that the intention and the outcome of this practice involves nothing but to reinforce the status quo of women under oppression. None of the women in Nabokov's study went to the exorcist voluntarily, but were pressured by their husbands or in-laws. More than half of them were recent brides who had run away from their husbands and been forcibly returned. One of them was a 17-year-old who fled from an abusive husband nearly twice her age. Her subsequent exorcism served as a hostile inquisition designed to make her accept her lot in life -- not an opportunity to express her feelings to a compassionate listener. "The confessions of these 'caught' women require that the demons be expelled and the wives returned to reason -- that is, to the safety and structure of the patriarchal family fold and women's proper role in it," Nabokov said. Hopefully the barbaric excesses of these exorcisms will one day be eradicated, and the first step is making sure the rest of the world understands what atrocities are being committed in the guise of casting out ghosts. This sort of garbage is not what "until death do us part" is supposed to mean. Source: Nature magazine. © Copyright 1998 ParaScope, Inc. More Fortean Slips! Fortean Slips message board: Share your views