Released under a freedom of information request in 2010, it found a "shame and blame" culture in the NHS in England, which got in the way of improving quality of care.

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"Honour" violence is a phrase used to describe attacks on people deemed to have brought shame on their family or culture.

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Brok said the United States tends to have a culture more oriented toward shame and individualism, and an ethic of finding solutions to particular problems.

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It is a cudgel used to shame women, terrorize women, to perpetuate a culture where women can be treated like objects and rapists like heroes.

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It's a shame that the UK government has sought to defend this broken bonus culture by acting as the trade union for a minority of highly paid traders.

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But perhaps the most significant factor is the extremely conservative culture in Libya - and in Misrata in particular - which regards rape as a matter of profound shame for an entire family, and not something to be mentioned in public.

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