New Target for Congo Rapists: Men
The New York Times has a news story up about some new problems in the Congo. Now in addition to women and girls, men are being raped brutally by armed militants. This is horrible because I think this means everyone is now a target for sexual violence.
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While this may be the first time a major US news organization has covered the sexual violence of men against men the rape of men in the Congo it is well documented. I recommend looking at Oxfam or UN reports that have been talking about this for over a year. This just shows that sexual assaults is never just a "women's issue".
Its in no way new, in fact almost every story I've heard coming out from the Congo involved equal levels of brutality against the men, stuff so horrific it loses its effect it is so unimaginable.
Just violence happening to men didn't evoke the same response.
Seriously, the total lack of exposure is sickening.
And as TD said, this is nowhere near a new development.
Undisiplined military groups often sexually assault their child soldiers and unwilling adult soldiers to keep them in line.
Its kinda a standard operating procedure that has been used in South and Central America, Afica, South East Asia, so forth and so on.
Disciplined military groups also routinely use sexual violence against female civilians and POWs - and, occasionally, against male prisoners as well.
The Israeli Defense Force and the Israeli Border Police have a long history of such conduct in the Palestinian Territories.
As does the US Army and US Marine Corps, in every conflict since World War II (according to a US Army Criminal Investigation Division study conducted on the Japanese island of Okinawa (the sight of the last major land battle of World War II) in 1945, 20,000 women were raped during the course of the battle - with most of the rapes carried out by US Army or US Marine Corps troops (although troops of the Japan Imperial Army and the Imperial Marines carried out quite a few rapes as well).
And do I even have to mention Abu Ghraib?
What you said was true... and completely misses the point.
My comment was about militias that pressure conscripts into military service through all sorts of intimidation, to include sexual assault. They also do so to intimidate the civilian populace and as the spoils of war.
That does not mean that sexual assault only occurs in that context.
I served in the Marines, and we had a definition of what it meant to be disciplined... instant willing obedience to orders, self reliance, and team work.
Disciplined leaders don't need to use sexual assault against their own troops or the civilian populace.
I agree with all of the posters. Not to mention that this brutal war is being fueled by control over exotic sounding raw materials that make their way toward developed economies to be used in electronics. But we (meaning we in developed countries) won't make the connection now will we?
Well, it isn't just a question of "we" in the developed countries.
The armies in the Congo are getting their funding and arms from somewhere - namely, corporate interests in the imperialist countries who want to control Congolese resources.
So some of "we" - the "we" who run countries like ours - really don't have a problem with the Congolese war, as long as their proxy armies win and proxy armies backed by other imperialist countries (France, Belgium) lose.
"This is horrible because I think this means everyone is now a target for sexual violence."
Everyone has always been a target for sexual violence. Although well documented, sexual assault against men, particularly in militaristic circumstances, has a long history.
EVERYONE has and always will be a target for sexual violence until we sort out ourselves. It's shocking because it's a major news network, the news isn't shocking itself.