A few days ago Sheril Kirshenbaum of The Intersection emailed me a story from the New York Times and wrote, "I wonder if we can collaborate on something related to drawing attention to [this?]."
I read Nicholas Kristof's article on the rape of children in post war Liberia with tears in my eyes. Here's an excerpt from the piece, but I'd encourage you to read the article in its entirety. It is a perfect example of brilliant reporting.
In modern times, we've seen mass rape as an element of warfare in Congo, Darfur, Bosnia, Rwanda, Liberia -- but the lesson here in Liberia in West Africa is that even when the fighting ends, the rape continues. And that brings us to Jackie, a lovely 7-year-old with tight braids and watchful eyes.
Jackie is too young to remember the 14-year civil war in Liberia, from 1989 to 2003, when as many as three-fourths of women were raped. Jackie's world is one of a bustling, recovering Liberia with a free press and democratically elected leaders.
Yet somehow mass rape survived the end of the war; it has been easier to get men to relinquish their guns than their sense of sexual entitlement. So the security guard at Jackie's school, a man in his 50s, took the little girl to the beach where, she said, he stripped her and raped her. Finally, he ran off as she lay bleeding and sobbing on the sand.
"I couldn't walk well, so they took me to hospital," Jackie told me. It was worse than that: She was hemorrhaging, and the hospital couldn't stop it. So Jackie was rushed in critical condition to Monrovia's largest hospital, where she spent weeks recovering.
Jackie is now in a shelter for survivors of sexual violence -- and what staggered me is that so many of the girls are pre-teens. A 3-year-old survivor has just moved out, but Jackie jumps rope with girls aged 8 to 11.
Of course, children are raped everywhere, but what is happening in Liberia is different. The war seems to have shattered norms and trained some men to think that when they want sex, they need simply to overpower a girl. Or at school, girls sometimes find that to get good grades, they must have sex with their teachers.
As someone who experienced childhood sexual violence, my heart broke for these girls. I asked Sheril what she thought we could do to help. My heart broke even more when she initially responded, "I was merely outraged and saddened to read that something like 60% (more if I remember right) are girls under 12. But I suppose there's little we can do....."
One of the travesties of childhood sexual assault is that it leaves an indelible mark on those that experience it. It robs the victims of their innocence and replaces it with fear and anger, creates in them a void that cannot be satisfied by normal human contact and emotion, and alters every interaction they will have for the rest of their lives. There is not a single day that passes that is not tainted by the reality of the assault. It's a failing when we cannot keep one child safe. It's a failing of massive proportions when we cannot keep the children of an entire nation, or an entire continent, safe. The situation made me sadder because I knew that if it were happening here, the outrage would be epic. Because it's happening across the Atlantic in Liberia, it's easy for us to ignore. To say that there is nothing we can do was not acceptable to me.As the local domestic and laboratory goddess, I was unable to accept that there is little we can do. I replied to Sheril, CCing twelve of my closest blog friends, and suggested that we might all do what we do best -- blog about it and ask people to take notice.
But, then the people here that I love and admire took things one step further. Those twelve people CCed some of their closest friends and people all over the blogosphere are writing about this today, giving the project the name "Silence is the Enemy." There is a Facebook page about it here and a list of all of the posts here. You can follow the events on Twitter using the tag #silencehurts.
In the next several days I'll be drafting a letter to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, asking her to intervene on behalf of these girls. Ambassador Rice was once Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. I will share with you my final letter and hope you will join me in writing Ambassador Rice or your senator/representative.
Finally, for the month if June I will donate all of my blogging revenues to the nonprofit organization Doctors Without Borders. This group taken on the task of caring for the childhood victims. Here are the blogs that will be joining me in the donation:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/i
http://scienceblogs.com/isisthescie
http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/
http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera
http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/
http://scienceblogs.com/authority/
http://scienceblogs.com/drugmonkey/
http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandsc
I'd encourage you to click those blogs and visit often, knowing that every click with not only offer you some of the best scientific content around, but that each click will generate revenue to help aid the victims of this travesty. I'd ask you to tell your friends about our efforts, pass this link on to them, and ask them to click also. I was amazed by your response to the funding of my David Bruce Award. Now I am asking for your help with something even more important. I'll promise you fresh shenanigans, shoes, Ask Dr. Isis answers, Letters to Our Daughters, and more information about this tragedy, if you'll come by everyday and help with the cause.
I realize that don't say this enough, as I am busy posting shoes or calling someone a bad word, but the reason that I blog is because I am struck by the power of the community here. When I began this, I could not reasonably fathom the ability of a group of interconnected, partially pseudonymous people to affect positive change. I adore you all.
Best regards,
Isis the Scientist
Politics
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
It is nice to see all of you focusing on a real problem, for once, instead of just complaining about how mean men are to you. Aren't you glad to live in America instead of Liberia? Here, for the most part, the males around you aren't trying to gang-rape you and your kids. So maybe we do treat you as sexual objects, stare at your boobs, make inappropriate comments, don't pay you enough, etc. See how insignificant all that is compared to the troubles women have elsewhere? Try to keep things in perspective and be grateful for all that you have in this country and in the West.
Posted by: Joshua | June 2, 2009 2:25 AM
joshua, glad that you can appreciate that this is a real problem but... really? yes, everything is relative, but acknowledging the gender inequalities that exist in our country does not trivialize those taking place in other countries. just because we're not the lowest common denominator when it comes to the treatment and equality of women does NOT mean we're at the finish line.
this is not about being grateful... should i be grateful that such horrific things are happening to girls abroad instead of in my country of birth? the point is that it's HAPPENING, it's heartbreaking no matter where it takes place. i don't subscribe to the view that because it's happening to someone else and not me, i should sit down, shut up, and 'be grateful'- when it shouldn't be happening at all.
Posted by: ali | June 2, 2009 2:48 AM
I'm glad you and your blogosphere buddies are doing this. I'll be clicking away.
Posted by: angela | June 2, 2009 3:05 AM
Joshua, your comment is extremely inappropriate. Sexual violence occurs every day in every country-ours included. You'd be surprised how many women you know have been victims of sexual assault. Women need to be reminded that it's ok to talk about rape, it's ok to seek help, and it's ok to seek justice. Yes, some of the problems Isis blogs about are trivial when compared to the other acts that could be occurring, but that does not make them any less real, or any less wrong.
Dr. Isis, is there any other way we can help from afar? Charities/organizations we can donate to that are set up to provide care and shelter? I want to do more for these girls who've had their childhood stripped from them.
Posted by: ktbug ladydid | June 2, 2009 9:24 AM
Joshua's comment makes my stomach hurt.
Posted by: Madelaine | June 2, 2009 9:54 AM
Joshua,
Why don't you and Dave (frequent commenter at Drugmonkey's blog) go start your own blog. You could call it "Misogynists R Us."
Honestly, if you don't like the stuff Isis posts, why are you reading it?
Posted by: Odyssey | June 2, 2009 9:57 AM
It's like dear little Joshua was just waiting around all day for posts like this to show up so he could be first to troll them. He popped up over at my place too to tell me how awful I am to suggest that men have anything to do with rape. Don't get him wrong, rape is bad and all, and it's good to be upset about monsters raping children in Liberia, but women-who-have-it-good in American whose freedoms have been defended by Manly Men should not be complaining in a mistaken manner about men perpetrating sexual assaults. These things just happen. You know, when monsters do it. Not men.
You should pity him. He is desperately defending a notion of masculinity, a bill of goods he's been sold his whole life, that isn't worth a piece of shit.
Posted by: Zuska | June 2, 2009 10:15 AM
I've added a post about this topic to my blog. Every little bit helps.
Posted by: ktbug ladydid | June 2, 2009 11:37 AM
Joshua-
Girls this age are raped in this country EVERY DAY.
I know, I am a pediatric subspecialist. During my residency training in some of Chicago's best and worst neighborhoods I saw girls raped by strangers, brothers, friends, fathers, and everything in between. It was bad enough that I knew members of the vice squad! We don't hear about this in our papers, and it is less prevalent than the Liberian situation; however, it is happening. Lucky for me, I don't have to deal with this in my specialty.
This phenomenon has nothing to do with sex. I believe this is because women and girls are seen as objects that men can use as they please. In these cases it reaches an extreme that most men cannot fathom. On a daily basis women in the US still deal with its lesser manifestations, with men seeing us a lesser beings rather than full equals.
We must work to blast sexism in all its manifestations and all its levels before women can be really free, even if talking to our boobs seems like a trivial crime.
Posted by: Pascale | June 2, 2009 12:12 PM
Joshua, it is nice to see you focusing on a real problem, for once, instead of just complaining about how mean women are to you. Aren't you glad to live in America instead of Liberia? Here, for the most part, the males around you aren't trying to murder you and and rape your kids. So maybe women complain about you treating them as sexual objects, staring at their boobs, making inappropriate comments, not paying them enough, etc. See how insignificant all that is compared to the troubles men have elsewhere? Try to keep things in perspective and be grateful for all that you have in this country and in the West.
Oh, wait, you're STILL sitting here whining about how mean women are to you. My bad.
Posted by: Roi des Foux | June 2, 2009 12:18 PM
I've started to do my part by directing everyone I know to these blogs this month. May you see an incredible spike of traffic!
Posted by: Academic | June 2, 2009 12:56 PM
Dear Dr. Isis,
I applaud the efforts of you and your fellow bloggers. We live in such a bubble here in the West - we need to be aware of these things. Even more, we need to do something about these things. You are rightfully moved and horrified by this NY Times article. My only quibble is this - I don't want people to get the impression that this only happens in the poor, war-torn areas of the world like Africa. Rapes, including child rapes, happen everywhere. Rich people do them, as well as poor people. Educated as well as illiterate. Africans, as well as Americans, Europeans, and Asians. I hope you and your blogger friends talk about all of it - not just the Liberian ones. Bravo for your efforts so far!
Posted by: NIM | June 2, 2009 1:36 PM
...
@ Madelaine #5...
Hell, that comment makes my stomach hurt ...and my head hurt ...and my heart hurt.
I think trolls be among us...
...tom...
.
Posted by: ...tom... | June 2, 2009 4:37 PM
Hi Isis,
I am in the process of adding an article about this great campaign to my LJ, in hopes of increasing the traffic to all participating blogs and helping generate donations to MSF.
Question: would it be OK if, when you publish your proposal for a letter to Susan Rice, I borrowed it and encouraged people here in the UK to send the same (or possibly slightly adapted to our local situation) letter to the British Ambassador to the UN, Sir John Sawers?
I will understand if you tell me to go write my own damn letter; it's just that I think your missive will be more well informed than what I can come up with.
You have me email address, so if you'd rather respond offline feel free to use it.
Posted by: TheLady | June 3, 2009 9:54 AM
That would be just fine, TheLady! Best of luck to you!
Posted by: Isis the Scientist | June 3, 2009 9:55 AM
Great, thanks! And good luck!
Posted by: TheLady | June 3, 2009 10:18 AM