Most commonly, rape is a crime of opportunity; the victim is chosen not because of her looks or behavior, but because she is there. ~Helen Benedict (Virgin or Vamp, 1992)
Two rape cases have made the global headlines during the previous week. Both cases are drawing much needed attention to the global nature of the culture of violence against women and girls.
The death of 23 year old Jyoti Singh Pandey after being gang raped sparked protest from women and men who were outraged by the attack. Jyoti was raped to teach her a lesson after she fought and bit three of her attackers.
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| Image from RT, India |
In Stubenville, Ohio protesters took to the streets after Anonymous lelaked a video on the web showing two high school football players discussing the details of an alleged rape that occurred during the summer involving a 16 year old girl known as Jane Doe. The people of community are upset because it appears that there was a cover up of this attack to protect the ball players. You can see the video of the group of males discussing the incident here.
Video from protest held in Stubenville, Ohio
Meanwhile, Congress has not renewed the Violence Against Women Act. It seems that the idea of providing new protections for Native American women and the LGBT community and more protections for immigrants. You can learn more details about the stalemate in Congress here.
Violence against women is a human rights issue. One that is not going to go away nor will we be silenced about the crimes that are committed against us.
You can also link to a fact sheet on what the Violence Against Women Act entails here.
1 comment:
Both of these cases are disturbing. It's incredible to me that a woman could get gangraped on a full bus and thrown off that bus like a load of garbage. All of those men involved need to die.
I watched the video of the football players laughing at the rape last week. The father in me was outraged. For the life of me I don't understand WHY they thought that it was funny.
Both of these cases are disturbing.
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