According to a director of rape has become a United Nation’s emergency relief funds, “cultural in the Congo (Washington Post). Unfortunately, sexual exploitation is not a new phenomenon” development. In a recent expose on the rape epidemic in the Congo, Washington Time’s reporter Betsy Pisik explains the history of sexual violence. Slavers and Belgian colonists raped region’s long and tortured Congolese women for decades. Even after achieving independence, corrupt dictators allowed rape and abuse to continue with impunity. Today, the amount of rape that actually occurs is incalculable. Even conservative assessments from the United Nations estimate that 200,000 women have been raped in the last decade, while at least 40 women are raped each day in the province . Of course, this is a shocking epidemic that requires an Congo’s eastern immediate and aggressive response. These statistics, however, ignore many of the silent Congo’s victims of rape and abuse. These silent victims are men. In a rare publicized account, Tupapo Mukuli and Kazungu Ziwa describe being taken from their homes and brutally gang-raped by Congolese rebels. In an interview with the New York Times, both men explain being humiliated and ostracized as a result of being raped. Ziwa feels so tired and alone that he has lost all will to work. Even at a rape ward, Mukuli is isolated. As the only man among hundreds of women, Mukuli has no interest in basket-weaving (what most women do at the ward during recovery) and instead spends a great deal of time by himself, silently reflecting on his experience with sexual violence. Even more troubling was the response to both rape by their own communities. Mukuli and Ziwa were laughed at and referred to men’s as women. Some even a painful reminder of what happened to the labeled them “bush wives,”
According to a director of United Nation’s emergency relief funds, rape has become a “cultural phenomenon” in the Congo (Washington Post). Unfortunately, sexual exploitation is not a new development. In a recent expose on the rape epidemic in the Congo, Washington Time’s reporter Betsy Pisik explains the region’s long history of sexual violence. Slavers and Belgian colonists raped and tortured Congolese women for decades. Even after achieving independence, corrupt dictators allowed rape and abuse to continue with impunity. Today, the amount of rape that actually occurs is incalculable. Even conservative assessments from the United Nations estimate that 200,000 women have been raped in the last decade, while at least 40 women are raped each day in the Congo’s eastern province . Of course, this is a shocking epidemic that requires an immediate and aggressive response. These statistics, however, ignore many of the Congo’s silent victims of rape and abuse. These silent victims are men. In a rare publicized account, Tupapo Mukuli and Kazungu Ziwa describe being taken from their homes and brutally gang-raped by Congolese rebels. In an interview with the New York Times, both men explain being humiliated and ostracized as a result of being raped. Ziwa feels so tired and alone that he has lost all will to work. Even at a rape ward, Mukuli is isolated. As the only man among hundreds of women, Mukuli has no interest in basket-weaving (what most women do at the ward during recovery) and instead spends a great deal of time by himself, silently reflecting on his experience with sexual violence. Even more troubling was the response to both men’s rape by their own communities. Mukuli and Ziwa were laughed at and referred to as women. Some even labeled them “bush wives,” a painful reminder of what happened to the
Feminizing_the_enemy.docx