It's not impossible she thought she was being helpful - poor dear obviously isn't being cared for properly at home, let me bring him up to (my culture's) standards of masculinity.

There are some similar issues wrt to Aboriginal culture that looks like poverty to white eyes. And when the people in question often are poor at the same time, it gets messy.

(Not defending the action, more demonstrating how important it is for white people to have some basic understanding of the cultures of the other people around them.)