but only one culture has a handbook saying it's OK to beat your wife

This is such bullshit. The Bible has been used for eons as a justification for human rights abuses against women, including the practice of wife beating.

It's in the interpretation of the Bible and the Koran that the problems arise, not necessarily in either of those texts themselves. Both texts promote the subjugation of women by men, and that is what gives men and societies the "justification" for physical abuse.


This article discusses the role that the Hindu religion plays in the subjugation of women in India, and how it contributes to the problem of domestic violence against women in that country:

http://vaw.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/10/1/94

"Domestic violence in not unique to India, nor is it a recent phenomenon. But in India what is unusual is the resistance to its elimination by society at large and society's lack of recognition of it as a serious issue. What is recent is the courage of women to face up to domestic violence - not just women in organized groups but also female victims who are well aware of the dverse consequences that "going public" will have on their lives. With the backdrop of the patriarchal social structure, the tradition of familial piety, and the asymmetrical gender expectaations in India, this defiant movement to expose domestic violence has created the space for a national debate on the issue.

This article will focus on the privileged position of men in the household and in society to implicate men as perpetrators in the debate on domestic violence. The focus is on men because it is men in India who define the household, the society, and the nation; women's status in India is purely relational (daughter, wife, and mother of father, husband, and son). This article will discuss how the status of Indian women is determined primarily by patriarchy, thus drawing women into a traditional gender hierarchy. Through a discussion of men's exalted position in Indian society, I want to delineate how the woman's very existence is created to cater to the patriarchy, which has "mastered the craft" of creating a social order that ensurees that service is provided not just with efficiency but also with devotion, silence, subjugation, and tolerance, even at the expense of glorifying such oppression through religion and mythology (e.g. Sita and Savitri, mythological Hindu figures whose chastity and devotion to their husbands make them role models for all Hindu women)."



Here's an instance of a Hindu sect that is committing human rights violations against children (mostly female) in the name of their religion:

"SAUDATTI, India (Reuter) - Frenzied worshippers gathered
near a south Indian temple Wednesday ready for the full moon
celebration of a Hindu goddess whose devotees include a cult
sentencing children to a life of prostitution.
Girls -- many under 10 years old -- chosen to become
Devadasis, meaning handmaidens of god, will be dedicated to the
goddess Yelamma in secret ceremonies before being brought to the
temple...

...Most of the girls brought into the Devadasi system will
return home, but once they reach puberty they will become human
cargo in the sex traffic in cities like Bombay, where sex can be
bought for less than the price of a bottle of beer.
Hunger, poverty and superstition are the root causes of a
practice which sees parents or relatives sell a daughter to a
pimp or brothel for $150 to $200."


When you focus on only one group of people who do these kinds of things, it becomes no longer about the victims, but about your own prejudice against that group.

Also, by dismissing what some of the women in this thread are saying about domestic violence in our own cultures as being different (irrelevant) because you think it's only bad to beat your wife if it's encoded in your "handbook", you are tacitly condoning that behavior in these cultures. Which makes you no better than the people you are criticizing.