Cultures or evil customs.

To conclude, first, we should appreciate the cultural diversity around the world generally and that of Viet Nam specifically. However, in some cultures, customs in practice are so strange, weird or inhuman (for example Sky Burial of Tibet, compelling women to wear scarves in Islam, Bone collecting in East Asia, stitching girls’ vagina to prevent any sexual desire in African, etcetera) that there is a lot of controversy as to whether these customs are a part of culture or actually evil customs. The 4 questions above can really help us to differentiate between the two, and some actions such as raising people’s awareness by education, promoting human rights on the mass media, building hotlines for people in immediate need, or merely just modifying the name of the custom can be a positive step in making the world a better place with healthy customs. With regard to “Wife stealing” of the H’Mong, people have shifted it to “Wife pulling” to mitigate the severity of the custom and reminding men to respect his women - you are asking, not forcing.