16 Days - Day 4: Targeting Women

These pictures were very hard to look at and the story hard to read. It gave me a lump in my throat to see these. It's hard to believe that the men would continue to do what they were doing, even while the pictures were taken. I've known that this happens, but it's shocking to see. It's upsetting and seems overwhelming in that this kind of treatment of women as property, instead of respect as human beings,has a hard and long road to healing. The men must be shown how to change their perspective on human life.

"Violence against women and girls always explodes during and after war."

War-time violence against females is reprehensible. But so is the violence against males. I believe inciting your readers only about the former increases the potential for more violence against both sexes.

How many readers noticed the statement “women were forced to watch the murder of their husbands”? (Husbands are often killed after being forced to watch the rape of their wife). I suspect most readers barely noticed it.

Judging by your readers' responses, reports such as yours tend to reinforce the belief that only women are harmed during war, that women are innocents who “shouldn't be hurt.” They seem not to believe that no one – male or female -- should be hurt.

We must not forget that while young females are being kidnapped for sexual trafficking – which we often hear about -- young boys as young as six are being kidnapped, beaten, and forced to fight in wars or to slave in work camps. We rarely hear about this.

How might some of these young boys feel when they finally come to realize that the international community cares only about females? Might they develop a lethal bitterness?

There is danger in expressing outrage only for female victims.

For the sake of balance, I urge you to read "The Greater Outrage for Female Victims of Governments’ Brutality Perpetuates Risk to Both Sexes" at http://battlinbog.blog-city.com/governments_violence_against_the_sexes.htm.

That is horrible. That looks like a child beating his mother in the last picture. Tradition or not, this suffering must be stopped. This footage is so well documented that it tells me a story; a story of violence, and a call for help.

Is there a readiness of IRC to support and the women in certain villages where a tight, united sisterhood is ready to be formed. For instance, if any female village member is assaulted her immediate female neighbors and, if necessary, all the village's adult females would chase that male out of the area or village and not let him return unless they knew he would not attack again. The next step, if there were a strong, purposeful unity of the women, would be to stop all sexual relations with all the men in the village until the men agreed to begin to adopt full, respectful, honoring, equal relationships with the women and began to help more equally with parenting. The same could be instituted by women in many parts of the USA, especially in the rural county I live in, but the process of divide and conquer of the "culture" has splintered the women's community too much. Thank you Ann, for your work by mirroring back to me how I am part of the problem both in supporting violence against women and children in America and around the world. Armchair email stands and sending money still keep the cultural insanity in place. Too many words, justifications.

Thsese photos are very hard to look at. We hear about this kind of violence all the time, but to actually see it is very painful. It makes us realize how really sheltered we are here in the U.S. I know GBV exists here as well, but what's happening there is so ingrained in the social fabric. It's hard to think of the men as victims, yet intellectually I know they are.
I feel so sorry for these women, but admire them greatly because they are not afraid to speak out and get help.
Thanks Ann.

Ann, your efforts and the efforts of the GBV team will help plant the seeds and make the difference. Who knows how many women, not treated as chattle will be seen as beautiful creatures who deserve respect and recognition of their human dignity. In part, this is what war does to people, most often shutting down the best in us and bringing out the worst. Blessings on your efforts to spread the word of peace and non-violence against these women.

no Women or child should have to live in a world were there are no justice.

The reports and photos are heartbreaking. I think that education for these women is so important. They need to be aware they have rights, and I believe education will also raise their self-esteem, which must be very low after all they have endured. I wonder if it would be helpful to have classes for men, if you could get them to attend, to teach them anger management, and get them to really see what they are doing to these beautiful women. They need to see them as fellow human beings, not objects to be used and abused. Thank you, Ann, for bringing this to light.

Why don't the husbands and children of these women stop this horrific violence? How can they just stand there and let their wives and mothers die?

Of course rape and beatings are terrible. I love what you are doing and I have two points to contribute in this posting.

The first is that I hear the repeated requests from bloggers on this site to get involved with development issues. Many say it is difficult. It is, indeed. I have post graduate degrees (a MA in African Studies and Ph.D. in comparative education) that should have prepared me for a long career in development, however, through my rigorous studies at UCLA I discovered that I could do more for the world by staying, at least for the time being, in America to deal with the racism and biased worldviews propagated through education.

So my first point is that the posting about how NGOs and other development agencies prioritize Europeans and Westerners to work on these issues is true and it needs to be examined. I think it has been examined. I think my life is a testimony to that examination. Third World women have gained a lot of power in the last few decades, at least in relative terms.

My second point is that in this Targeting Women expose here I just want to caution readers to remember that men in Africa are victims, too. That doesn't excuse what some men do to women and girls, but blaming the victim is incorrect. I do not think Ann is blaming men or even war, but we want to tread carefully in our analysis in how rape can be stopped. Rape is an act of violence and anger, but Africans have deep anger over their conditions. Many African men feel helpless. Many African American men feel helpless, too. That is not right. I would like to help both men and women (and girls and boys) to live in harmony, but I think it would take a new world order and a paradigm shift away from war toward healing.

Domestic Violence (DV) is a growing concern as the world becomes more globalized. Westernized nations and NGOs are reaching deeper into the third world at unprecedented rates. One would believe that this influx of new aid and information would help in changing a nation, but as we are seeing, these human rights violations acted out through culture and tradition seem to be a force that will take time to change.

Side Note:

I have been interested in joining the IRC and am currently working on my Masters in International Relations. My undergrad is in Law and Justice and I am a former Police Officer. I have been wondering how someone can get involved (work)with the IRC if they don't have the multiple years of humanitarian assistance required. I would think that motivation, dedication and education would outweigh the experience, but that is not the case.

I am horrified by these pictures. There seems to be no fear of punishment for the person committing the crime against the female victims. The conscience of the world seems to be asleep.