Thanks for this very troubling article Brigitte. I’ve long been a promoter of more law enforcement for rape in African countries. Men aren’t arrested, they’re not convicted, and they’re not imprisoned. These women are being forced to defend themselves, often times against gangs and armed assailants.
How we can even begin to talk about opening up abortion clinics in Africa until rapists are arrested is really beyond me. In my mind, the equation looks something like this… Rape + Victimized Women= Crisis Pregnancies. To try and put abortion on the crisis pregnancy side of that equation makes my stomach turn. I don’t want to ‘balance that equation out’ for the rapists. Abortion simply doesn’t ’empower’ women in Africa while they remain second class citizens (not that it would even if they weren’t).
Here’s the trailer for ‘The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo’ for those that want an idea of what the issue is there. It’s not dissimilar to Kenya and other regions. The lone female police officer sums it up at around the 2:40 mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oGGpulYsZY&feature=related
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Thanks for this very troubling article Brigitte. I’ve long been a promoter of more law enforcement for rape in African countries. Men aren’t arrested, they’re not convicted, and they’re not imprisoned. These women are being forced to defend themselves, often times against gangs and armed assailants.
How we can even begin to talk about opening up abortion clinics in Africa until rapists are arrested is really beyond me. In my mind, the equation looks something like this… Rape + Victimized Women= Crisis Pregnancies. To try and put abortion on the crisis pregnancy side of that equation makes my stomach turn. I don’t want to ‘balance that equation out’ for the rapists. Abortion simply doesn’t ’empower’ women in Africa while they remain second class citizens (not that it would even if they weren’t).
Here’s the trailer for ‘The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo’ for those that want an idea of what the issue is there. It’s not dissimilar to Kenya and other regions. The lone female police officer sums it up at around the 2:40 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oGGpulYsZY&feature=related
I’m more in favour of the protective power of firearms (especially for women) than I am for self-defence (ie, martial arts, etc).