Amy Siskind writes a thought-provoking piece on the recent honor-killing in Buffalo that includes a grim statistic:

Aasiya was allegedly murdered by her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, on February 12 at his place of business, the Bridges TV station in a Buffalo suburb. Aasiya had filed for divorce and obtained an order of protection on February 6 against her husband. So why the international attention to the murder of Aasiya? After all, sadly, this type of tragedy is hardly unusual in our country, where each and every day three or more women are murdered by their husband or boyfriend. In fact, statistics tell us that in the ten days since Aasiya died, 30 or more women in America have been murdered by their husband or boyfriend. The attention on this case comes as a result of the gruesome way in which Aasiya was murdered—torture and then decapitation—and what a beheading symbolically means.

As if to prove Suskind's point, witness this headline in today's Chicago Sun-Times:

Man charged in murders of Eddy Curry's ex, daughter
Chicago lawyer Fredrick D. Goings was charged Sunday with fatally shooting Nova Henry and her 9-month-old daughter, Ava --the child of New York Knick Eddy Curry -- after police reviewed hours of surveillance tape and forensic evidence that they say links Goings to the crime scene.

Curry's 3-year-old son with Nova Henry, Noah, was found bloody but unharmed when Henry's mother discovered the bodies Jan. 24 at their Near South Side condo. [snip]

Goings, 36, had a prior romantic relationship with Henry, 24, and represented her in a paternity case against Curry. Ava's birth certificate recorded her surname as Goings.

The slayings were "domestic-related," police said. Henry let Goings in, and an argument happened, officers said. He faces two counts of first-degree murder and is to appear today in Bond Court.

The two cases are not that far apart in the details: both involved a husband/boyfriend who brutally murdered his wife/girlfriend.  And Suskind's point is surely true: if a man is intent upon committing violence against a woman - up to and including murder - there is precious little our laws can do about it.

But there is also a massive distinction between the two cases. Clearly, there are parts of the Islamic world that continue to tolerate such gruesome violence against women as a matter of religious culture, while the West does virtually everything in its cultural power to stigmatize violence directed toward women in an effort to prevent such behavior (just ask Chris Brown). Comparing all the statistics in the world can't obscure that difference.