"their whole purpose is to control women."
Saira Khan has revealed that her family are worried about her safety after an impassioned chat about honour killings.
The 50-year-old TV personality discussed the subject on Loose Women on September 29, 2020, in relation to the TV show Honour.
Saira said that “if a woman wants to live her own life, that is a good excuse to kill her in some societies”.
She also revealed that her decision to take part in a naked magazine shoot was a “political” one because “women in my community would be murdered for doing it”.
Honour was a two-part series that told the story of a woman who was murdered by her own family for falling in love with the wrong man.
Speaking about the TV show, Saira Khan told the panel: “There are girls that look like me, that share my heritage, that need help.
“They are seen as minority girls and are not represented. I think this is what the drama showed really eloquently.”
She added: “This happens because there are societies in this world where men are at the top and their whole purpose is to control women.
“If a woman wants to live her own life, that is a good excuse to kill her in some societies.”
Saira said that usually, women in dangerous positions cannot speak out because their families are complicit in the act of honour killing.
In November 2019, Saira posed nude for a magazine photoshoot, as she declared she no longer felt “shame” over her body.
She explained that she chose to do the photoshoot because some women in her community would have been killed for doing the same.
Saira said: “I will stand in my underwear and say, you can’t kill me for this reason. I will go out there and wear my bikini.
“To live their life how they wish to and want to be different, it’s OK. There is no excuse to murder a woman on that basis.
“I think my family are frightened for me. I do have people looking out for me. When I did that OK magazine shoot, it was a political reason for doing it.
“I didn’t do it to say, oh look how sexy I am. Women in my community would be murdered for doing it.”
“My family are frightened but I would say that I am going to carry on because women are important to me in my community.”
In early September 2020, Saira revealed that after doing the shoot, her mother did not speak to her for eight months because she felt she had brought “shame” on the family.
Saira Khan and her mother reconciled when her 12-year-old explained to his grandmother that his mother was trying to help other women.
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