"We've tried to change the mentality, but the effort has been nearly completely lost."
February 5, 2011 12:21 PM Subscribe
Rape flourishes in rubble of Haitian earthquake. 'Sexual violence against women has long been a scourge in Haiti, but rights activists had made real progress in recent years. Many of them died in the quake, and now women and girls are stalked by gang rapists.'Rape wasn't even considered a serious criminal offense in Haiti until five years ago. The women who pushed for the legislation making it so also built Haiti's first shelter for abused women. Next they had hoped to make fathers legally bound to acknowledge their children and pay some support. Haitian women are the poorest and most disenfranchised in this poorest of nations in the hemisphere. And yet, through the work of a spirited coterie of feminist activists, real strides were being made. Until Jan. 12, 2010.'
'Halya Lagunesse thought she knew despair. Nearly seven years ago, the soldiers who had killed her husband gang-raped the Haitian woman and her daughter Joann, who was 17 at the time. But that pain pales in comparison to the torment of learning last March that her 5-year-old granddaughter had been raped. Hers is a tragedy of rape compounded: Her granddaughter, now 6, was conceived in the gang rape of her daughter.'
'The young men were watching Fania Simone. They had picked her. Picked her for rape. They went to her tent and seemed to know she would be alone. Her mother had left for the countryside in search of food. Three of them. They wore masks. They threw her to the dirt floor. They kicked her in the ribs and slapped her face. "If you tell anyone," one of her attackers threatened, "we will kill your brother or your sister." After the rape, Simone, 23, sought medical attention. Then an organization that helps rape victims, Kofaviv, took her under its wing and gave her psychological counseling. But she still lives in the plastic-tarp tent, and her attackers lurk, murmuring their threats, watching her. "I feel very unsafe," said the young woman, whose bright eyes widen as she tells her story. "I have nowhere else to go. I am tortured."'
'Rape has long been a scourge in Haiti. It was used as a form of political repression in 1994 and in 2004, periods of upheaval when military dictators and their brutish gangs of enforcers seized power. Men who opposed the regime were abducted and killed, women raped. An entire generation of Haitians is filled with children of rape.
The earthquake generated new shockwaves of sexual violence. Hundreds, maybe thousands — there is no comprehensive count — have been raped. Some of the assaults are crimes of opportunity, but increasingly they seem a calculated, predatory form of stalking and attacking.'
'Halya Lagunesse thought she knew despair. Nearly seven years ago, the soldiers who had killed her husband gang-raped the Haitian woman and her daughter Joann, who was 17 at the time. But that pain pales in comparison to the torment of learning last March that her 5-year-old granddaughter had been raped. Hers is a tragedy of rape compounded: Her granddaughter, now 6, was conceived in the gang rape of her daughter.'
'The young men were watching Fania Simone. They had picked her. Picked her for rape. They went to her tent and seemed to know she would be alone. Her mother had left for the countryside in search of food. Three of them. They wore masks. They threw her to the dirt floor. They kicked her in the ribs and slapped her face. "If you tell anyone," one of her attackers threatened, "we will kill your brother or your sister." After the rape, Simone, 23, sought medical attention. Then an organization that helps rape victims, Kofaviv, took her under its wing and gave her psychological counseling. But she still lives in the plastic-tarp tent, and her attackers lurk, murmuring their threats, watching her. "I feel very unsafe," said the young woman, whose bright eyes widen as she tells her story. "I have nowhere else to go. I am tortured."'
'Rape has long been a scourge in Haiti. It was used as a form of political repression in 1994 and in 2004, periods of upheaval when military dictators and their brutish gangs of enforcers seized power. Men who opposed the regime were abducted and killed, women raped. An entire generation of Haitians is filled with children of rape.
The earthquake generated new shockwaves of sexual violence. Hundreds, maybe thousands — there is no comprehensive count — have been raped. Some of the assaults are crimes of opportunity, but increasingly they seem a calculated, predatory form of stalking and attacking.'
This post was deleted for the following reason: single link news article to touchy MeFi subject with graphic rape descriptions is not the best way to make a post to metafilter about this topic. -- jessamyn
Mod note: rape jokes removed - shame on you.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:00 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:00 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
I want to ask a serious question, despite the possibility that it may be seen as a troll or an invitation to derail. How am I, an outsider who has never been to Haiti, supposed to understand these reports of extremely serious crime against women, while also reading (as in the articles linked by Sgt. Serenity yesterday, as here) allegations that the U.S. media's recent focus on violence in post-disaster Haiti plays directly into American colonialist demonization and infantilization of the Haitian people? Rape is a vile, inexcusable crime, and should never be minimized. At the same time, is an ostensible concern for the rights of women and children possibly being used as a cover for the paternalistic slander of a nation? If Haiti is a nation of woman-hating rapists and savages, does that make it more ok for us to control their government and, incidentally, guarantee Haiti's future status as a low-wage workshop/plantation? Does that excuse our lock-down of the airport at Port-Au-Prince? I hope this question is taken in the spirit in which it is being offered.
Also, what the *FUCK* is with rape jokes? Jesus fucking Christ people.
posted by facetious at 1:01 PM on February 5, 2011
Also, what the *FUCK* is with rape jokes? Jesus fucking Christ people.
posted by facetious at 1:01 PM on February 5, 2011
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posted by idb at 12:47 PM on February 5, 2011