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Honour culture can lead to severe restrictions on individual freedoms and even to violence. In Sweden, a shocking murder back in 2002 sparked an intense debate about honour culture. A young Kurdish woman was shot dead by her father because he felt she had tarnished the family's reputation by dating a Swedish man. Since then, Sweden has seen many awareness-raising campaigns about how honour culture affect girls and women. However less attention has been given to how it affects boys and men. An issue that both writer Arkan Asaad and youth worker Alán Ali have chosen to focus on. Nathalie Rothschild has been to meet the two Iraqi-born Kurdish Swedes, who both happen to have transitioned from competing in taekwondo to empowering young people. Photo: Arkan Asaad, second on the right, when he was part of the Swedish taekwondo team in 2008 Credit: Arkan Asaad)