Proving ourselves by humiliating others

Findings from a focus group session I ran with Arab women living in Kuwait:

-"Our neighbour in Aleppo (Syria) throws his clothes around. He lies on his back and asks his wife to bring him the socks, the pyjamas! He does it on purpose. It is her duty to serve him."

-"When her Yemeni husband calls her, our neighbour Israá in Jahra (Kuwait), who has four children, stands like a stick! She once told my mother that her husband deliberately threw his rubbish around, knowing she would have to clean it up. He believes it is a way to prove himself! His peers mock him if he behaves otherwise."