RSBM
I think viewing women as the property of men is just plain old machismo, and it was common, and is still found, in many cultures in the world. I think it's jumping to conclusions to assume it's related specifically to the history of slavery. Here's a random example from India: "Investigations revealed that Raman was a friend of Raju. Raju had slapped Raman’s wife during a heated exchange over a trivial issue and to avenge his wife’s insult Raman killed Raju. His mother was also eliminated as she came to her son’s rescue during the scuffle."
Amethi Man Killed Friend, Mother To Avenge Wife’s Insult | Lucknow News - Times of India
IMO, it's a cultural value, which a person needs to believe in, in order to act on it. Most modern legal systems punish it and it's not an accepted valued in the culture of the academy awards and similar institutions.
We are very tolerant of people who break many cultural norms: such as a woman going to the Oscars with a shaved head. It doesn't surprise me that some people, who approve of the culture of machismo, will see WS's actions as being no different, and should be equally tolerated.
IMO the whole machismo thing is completely backward, where a trivial matter like a woman's hair becomes the important thing, and the violence is trivialized as just a personal quirk of the man.