Rape is also a war tactic, the UN says

I didn’t post about this before because I thought that there was just so much other stuff being said about it out on the internet. But it keeps coming up that people haven’t heard yet, so here it is. The UN Security Council a few weeks ago voted unanimously for a resolution to call rape a war tactic. Read this article for more

The news that led to this vote is all very sad, in the same vein of all of the other extremely sad truths about sexual violence: the rape of female military soldiers by their fellow soldiers; the rape of Iraqi women by U.S. soldiers; and more rape (graphic) if you don’t believe that one; the rape of female contractors working in the middle east by their own co-workers all while the military hushes things; the sale of children from poor countries to camel racers in the UAE to be used as starved, beaten, camel jockeys and sex slaves; the sale of girls into the sex trade all over the world in poor countries and the men from wealthy countries who support it; the belief in much of the middle east, in African countries, and in parts of Asia that girls and women are worth no more than the worth of an animal; genital mutilation of girls and boys in the Muslim, Christian and Jewish religions; the teaching of sexual shame to little girls and boys; domestic violence everywhere, it’s all everywhere.

The only comment I have for this, and the UN’s 2003(?) declaration of rape as a casualty of war, is…Why’d it take so long? Why do women always come last. Why is it acceptable for peace and aid workers to rape little girls in the countries in which they are sent to relieve suffereing? It’s all very sad.

Rape of women not the only sex casualty of war and disaster

Wow. The news is vibrating with reports of a Save The Children UK  report on child sexual abuse by UN Peace Keepers and other humanitarian aid workers in conflict areas around the world.

BBC reported.

MSNBC reported

Feminist Majority Foundation reported

Save The Children interviewed hundreds of children in Southern Sudan, the Ivory Coast and Haiti, and found that children are being trafficked, raped, used as prostitutes and pornography. Unsurprisingly, many don’t speak up.

More on Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Compound

This week all of the over 400 children (all but 24 of whom are female) will be getting DNA testing, and are being held in the court’s custody until further notice. I won’t go further into the case because you can find info. about it just about anywhere.

But I do want to point out the video below, which is just one installment of Larry King Live’s exclusive with some women of the compound. My heart cries out to these women, they are obviously terrified, and are being fed lines. However incapable of speaking truthfully about their own condition, I am SO SO pleased that this story is getting so much coverage, and that these women are being asked to talk to the press. Women are so often silenced. I think in this case, though, the men of the compound know that the public will be kinder to the women, while they keep out of sight.

But while lot’s of outcry and press is good—fuck if the press so damned insensitive? These women keep their eyes down and cower like beaten dogs, and yet the press for the most part (especially Larry King, who doesn’t transition his tone or approach at all) treat them as though they ought to be capable of sitting in front of a gazillion hounding questioners and not pee their dresses.

These women should be treated more tenderly, just like so many female victims of sexual and other violence. Now’s the time for them to get out.

Is anyone out there advocating freedom or help for these women? If so, please let us know via a comment or an e-mail to me.