The rape of men in Africa

Started by Zeitgeist, March 08, 2014, 01:40:05 AM

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Zeitgeist

http://www.forcedmigration.org/podcasts-videos-photos/video/gender-against-men

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jul/17/the-rape-of-men

This isn't a new story, and I don't doubt continues to this day.

While it wasn't terribly surprising to read that men too were/are victims of wartime rape, what really shocked me, what turned my stomach was to learn how aid organizations willfully underreport numbers in fear that if the breadth of the problem became well known it would draw resources away from programs that help women who are rape victims.

So, male victims are doubly screwed, both stigmatized by their own society and mostly ignored by outside organizations purportedly there to help people.

Just horrific.

Scribbles

I believe this sort of thinking goes beyond Africa...

Male rape is likely underreported due to the significant shame many feel around it, this causes the victims to simply bury it rather than ask for help. I've read of police laughing off male victims who report a rape.

As for Africa itself, depending on the region, it is considered a type of "initiation" for men to rape, whether that initiation is to symbolize adulthood or gain them a position in a gang. This is the reason behind a lot of rape in Africa. That said, I believe rapists target women more than men, especially since homophobia is pretty rife on the continent.
AA and OO
Current Games: Stretched Thin, Very Little Time

Valthazar

It would help men to have dedicated organizations and communities on campuses to talk about these issues in an empowering atmosphere - similar to many women's organizations, like "Take Back the Night." 

But as someone who works in education, I can tell you that this is unlikely to happen in the near future, if at all.  Just like girls, a lot of boys grow up internalizing unique biases they will face, which likely deter them from organizing in this way.

Mathim

Quote from: Zeitgeist on March 08, 2014, 01:40:05 AM
http://www.forcedmigration.org/podcasts-videos-photos/video/gender-against-men

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jul/17/the-rape-of-men

This isn't a new story, and I don't doubt continues to this day.

While it wasn't terribly surprising to read that men too were/are victims of wartime rape, what really shocked me, what turned my stomach was to learn how aid organizations willfully underreport numbers in fear that if the breadth of the problem became well known it would draw resources away from programs that help women who are rape victims.

So, male victims are doubly screwed, both stigmatized by their own society and mostly ignored by outside organizations purportedly there to help people.

Just horrific.

Is this really surprising given the approach taken by the Catholic church in covering up their own similar scandal?
Considering a permanent retirement from Elliquiy, but you can find me on Blue Moon (under the same username).

Kythia

Quote from: Mathim on March 10, 2014, 05:04:22 PM
Is this really surprising given the approach taken by the Catholic church in covering up their own similar scandal?

?

You lost me.
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Zeitgeist

Quote from: Mathim on March 10, 2014, 05:04:22 PM
Is this really surprising given the approach taken by the Catholic church in covering up their own similar scandal?

This post isn't about the wide ranging and well documented abuses of the Catholic church. If you want to talk about the Catholic church and its abuses please begin your own thread or speak of it in an existing thread dedicated to such.

alextaylor

Yeah, this is horrific. I don't really know what to say about this. I've seen men's rights organizations pop up for things like this, but male rape doesn't happen often and they get laughed off. It doesn't help that all the men's rights organizations in my area are run by shady characters.

Rape is more often a crime of violence than passion. From those articles, they sound more painful than your usual forms of torture.
O/O

Sabby

I saw a documentary once that claimed some crime groups in England employ male on male rape as a psychological tactic when collecting debts. They reasoned that men were far more terrified of the prospect then they were of being beaten up.

Zeitgeist

The real story to me isn't the rape but that the aid organizations sweeping it under the rug. WTF?

Valthazar

My guess is that many of these sex-assault aid groups receive funding from women's advocacy groups.  Similar to lobbying, the recipients likely feel obligated to uphold the narrative put forth by these groups.

Valthazar

From this thread: Feminism, Mens Rights and Other Nonsense.

Quote from: Kythia on March 20, 2014, 01:00:39 PM
Really?  I mentioned that it was being done by none female-orientated ones.  Two posts above this one.  Clearly your explanation doesn't work.  But this is woefully off topic, we should agree to disagree on it or take it back over to that thread.

Since you mentioned UNHCR as not being a women's advocacy group, here are a few quotes which suggest the contrary:

QuoteHe also recalls a man whose case was "particularly bad" and was referred to the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR. "They told him: 'We have a programme for vulnerable women, but not men.'"

Despite claiming that the UNHCR extends its services to both genders, "Wallström [UN special representative of the secretary-general for sexual violence in conflict] says the focus remains on women because they are "overwhelmingly" the victims. Nevertheless, she adds, "we do know of many cases of men and boys being raped."

The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 treats wartime sexual violence as something that only impacts on women and girls… Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced $44m to implement this resolution. Because of its entirely exclusive focus on female victims, it seems unlikely that any of these new funds will reach the thousands of men and boys who suffer from this kind of abuse.
(Source)

In other words, an organization that claims it is gender neutral is receiving significant funding from a Clinton initiative that is purely focusing on female victims.  Contrary to what you said, UNHCR does receiving funding from women's advocacy causes.

Kythia

Quote from: Valthazar on March 20, 2014, 01:26:28 PM
In other words, an organization that claims it is gender neutral is receiving significant funding from a Clinton initiative that is purely focusing on female victims.  Contrary to what you said, UNHCR does receiving funding from women's advocacy causes.


This is disingenuous to the point of outright dishonesty.

SECRETARY OF STATE Hilary Clinton recently announced $44m to implement this RESOLUTION

This is a UN resolution which the US has an obligation to fund.  This is not Hilary Clinton funding an initiative.  From Wikipedia:

QuoteThe Secretary of State is a senior official of the federal government of the United States of America heading the U.S. Department of State, principally concerned with foreign affairs and is considered to be the U.S. government's equivalent of a Minister for Foreign Affairs.[1][2]

In short, it is her job to announce funding for UN resolutions. 

Trying to portray this as a "women's advocacy" group or a "Clinton initiative" is either, as I say, disingenuous to the point of dishonest or implies you have fundamentally misunderstood the words you quote.
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Valthazar

Understand that UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is a component of UNHCR.

Here's the text of the resolution hosted on the UNHCR website.
http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=3b00f4672e

I have nothing against Clinton, but if the organization has distinct clauses like this specifically catering to female victims exclusively, I would categorize UNHCR as not a gender neutral entity (despite its mission).

Kythia

OK.  Once again, what you think of Clinton is utterly irrelevant to this conversation.  The US government funds (part funds) the UN.  Her job is to announce that funding.  Her genitalia and politics are irrelevant here.  Hilary Clinton, for the avoidance of doubt, plays absolutely no part in this conversation.

Quote from: Valthazar on March 20, 2014, 01:49:05 PM
Here's the text of the resolution hosted on the UNHCR website.
http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=3b00f4672e

Now.  See that bit of the URL after "http://www."  Where it says "refworld"?  That's who's website it is.  The UNHCR website would say UNHCR there.  Look:

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home

THAT is the UNHCR website.  refworld.org is what we call in the trade a "different" website.  Specifically, refworld is:

the leading source of information necessary for taking quality decisions on refugee status.

The ACTUAL UNHCR website, when you search for the security council resolution, shows this page.  While there are certainly some hits they are all in policy rather than, as you have elected to claim, the text of the resolution.

I'm aware this comes across as vaguely patronising but I can't seem to think of another way to phrase it.  Seriously, Val.  Did you even read any of that.

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Valthazar

I am not sure why you want to make a dichotomy between URL links - since link locations can vary.

Try clicking this link: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f4672e.html

Where does that take you?

Ephiral

Worth noting: SC Resolution 1325 is specifically entirely about the status of women. The only places that the word "sexual" or any variant thereof appear are in paragraphs 10 and 11.

Quote10. Calls on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to protect
women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of
sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict;

11. Emphasizes the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity and
to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war
crimes including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and
girls, and in this regard stresses the need to exclude these crimes, where feasible
from amnesty provisions;

So... it's disingenuous to the point of outright lying to claim that it "treats wartime sexual violence as something that only impacts women and girls"; rather, this document about the status of women notes that the victims of gendered violence in all its forms tend to be women, so there needs to be an extra effort made in protecting them.

Kythia

Quote from: Valthazar on March 20, 2014, 02:05:59 PM
I am not sure why you want to make a dichotomy between URL links - since link locations can vary.

Try clicking this link: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f4672e.html

Where does that take you?

What's your point?  That redirects are something that exist?

this:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=19&ved=0CHUQFjAIOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Felliquiy.com%2F&ei=jNV0T4a0EYTw0gGkxsX_Ag&usg=AFQjCNFUKoDTez5xOnJZaRkn0OLZIclKtQ&sig2=siQi9Rk3h_zHwaNC2n_MMg

will take you to Elliquiy?  Are you somehow arguing that Elliquiy and Google are the same thing?
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Valthazar

Refworld is simply a subsidiary of UNHCR - both are equally reputable.  I'm struggling to understand the significance of URL links entering this discussion, or why this was raised in response to my post.

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/

QuoteUNHCR is pleased to present to you Refworld 2013 at www.refworld.org. The website has undergone significant changes with a view to enhancing the overall user experience, based on a user-survey conducted in 2012 as well as feedback received from internal and external users over the years.
Source

Kythia

URLs came in because of:

Quote from: Valthazar on March 20, 2014, 01:49:05 PM
Here's the text of the resolution hosted on the UNHCR website.
http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=3b00f4672e

One by one, we are going through your incorrect claims.  That was the first one. 

On to the second?  If you're ready?

You claim that most of the aid organisations are funded by women's advocacy groups.  The only one mentioned in the text source is UNHCR, which is a UN organisation.  The UN is funded by member states.  Unless your argument is that every nation in the world but three is a women's advocacy group then we can adjust your statement from "most of the aid organisations" to "literally none of the aid organisations"

Happy with that?
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Valthazar

Refworld is part of the UNHCR website though - they are one and the same.  How is that an incorrect claim on my part?  They have simply made a shortcut to reaching the Refworld portion of the UNHCR website (http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/) by creating the http://www.refworld.org/ shortcut.

As far as the second claim, I actually apologized in the other thread for seemingly conveying that opinion as fact.  I believe that one of the reasons male victims are under-reported is because many of these theoretically gender-neutral agencies are crafted infra-structurally with biases in place.  If anything, I think some of these UN resolutions should be rewritten to acknowledge the true reality of sexual violence affecting both male and female victims. 

Ephiral

So... let's rewrite a resolution on the status of women to make sure it gives equal time to men, despite the fact that they make up a distinct and shrinking minority of the victims of the issues this resolution discusses. For the sake of equality. Riiiiiiight.

I do think the UNHCR should have resources for male victims of sexual violence. I really don't think that absolutely anywhere any women';s issues are discussed must be a place to discuss men's issues as well, especially when it's well-documented and taken into consideration as part of the discussion that these issues are much smaller.

Kythia

Hey Val,

Been in a foul mood all afternoon for reasons that are nothing to do with you.  While I do stand by everything I said my arguments have been, charitably, "overly aggressive" and if we're going to be less charitable "dickish".  For which I'm sorry.

I'm not ignoring your response per se, but I am ignoring it for the moment in the vague hope of preventing further dickishness over aggression.

As a partial attempt at making up for it, here's the funniest joke I know:

Two dogs sat in a park.  One says to the other "Did you see the football over the weekend?"  The other says "Fuck me!  A talking dog!"
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