Posts tagged congo
Transcend Dualism
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Rape as a Weapon of War in the Congo Becomes Rape as a Cultural Norm by Aimee Sea
There’s been a lot written about the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative has found a 17-fold increase in the number of civilian rapes. Rape as war has become rape as culture. Nicholas Kristoff has written about this in Liberia, and now it’s happening in the Congo.
Researchers surveyed over 4,000 women who sought treatment at one of the hospitals in the Eastern part of Congo, the ground zero of rape. They found that while war rapes were declining, civilian rapes had increased dramatically: 17-fold. Not doubled, nor tripled, nor even quadrupled, but increased 17-fold. We don’t even have a special word for that sharp an increase.
consent
I think the treatment of women in Congo is comparable to the treatment of women in the U.S. Fearing ones own body, and being paranoid about your image, is undeniably tied. I have through a process of letting go and regaining body ownership, and constantly being aware (of the images) and the media/social expectations that I’m supposed to be prescribing too, I have for the most part successfully let go many body standards that have been pushed at me, and are. I came to realize that I have another enemy inside me. Despite being able to physically control how I look, and though I can change how I see myself, I cannot change how others perceive and look at me. This isn’t where I wanted to take this exactly.
When people look at me, (mainly when a man) there are primarily two things that go through my head. How this person is seeing me in regards to my appearance (how I’m dressed, hair, makeup etc.) the other factor that I believe gets less notice, is how I instinctively react to their proximity, or what I do to protect myself, or how I either become more masculine or more feminine. This isn’t really where I wanted to go either. …
What I’m saying is, there is body image and body fear, and both are intrinsically related. Yesterday we watched The Line, and in it the the woman was talking about how great it was that her body was considered sacred. Indeed every body’s body should be sacred, but not in physical terms of appearance directly affecting our honor. Paranoia would not be present without all that body stigma. Meaning all the thoughts about honor and self worth comes from your body, and the paranoia is a reality, and comes from the fact that you are being judged on sight.
Everything can be rationalized… thoughts on when both parties are drunk or incapacitated… then consent is a much deeper discussion about ingrained behavior. I don’t know about how drinking changes base character and thoughts.
I would assume we would all agree that an enthusiastic yes is a good way to consent and to talk during sex and knowing exactly what’s going to happen is potentially very sexy and at least a good thing. But in the mainstream world people have ways of behaving in a prescribed way that they think is appropriate. And for sure people have ways of rationalizing their behavior, and either purposefully or because of cultural standards they misinterpret behaviors to suit their needs, which leads into talk about self awareness.
This is why we fucking analyze everything to death.
“As I have lain in my hospital bed or attempted to rest at home over these months, it is the phone calls and the reports that come in daily from the DRC that make me ill. The stories of continued rapes, machete killings, grotesque mutilations, outright murdering of human rights activists – these images and events create nausea and weakness much worse than chemo or antibiotics or pain meds ever could. But even harder to deal with, in the weakened state that I have been in, is knowing that despite the ongoing horrific atrocities that have taken the lives of more than 6 million people and left more than 500,000 women and girls raped and tortured, the international power elite appear to be doing nothing. They have essentially written off the DRC and its people, even after continued visits and promises.
The day is late. It is almost 13 years into this war. The Obama administration, as in most situations these days, refuses to take a real stand. Several months ago I visited the White House to meet a high official to engage the first lady in our efforts to end sexual violence in Congo, believing that her solidarity would galvanise attention and action. I was told, essentially, that femicide was not her “brand”. Mrs Obama, I was told, was focusing on childhood obesity.”
-excerpt from
Congo Cancer:
My Cancer is Arbitrary. Congo’s Atrocities are Very Deliberate.
by Eve Ensler
