Sexualized violence is widespread throughout the world. This is true even in times of peace and stability, but it escalates during humanitarian crises. In conflicts, women’s bodies can become battlegrounds, with rape used to humiliate and dominate. Protection systems also collapse during natural disasters, leaving women and girls vulnerable. And child marriage, a form of gender-based violence, is often seen as a coping mechanism among crisis-affected families.
The father of the woman gang-raped and killed in Delhi in December has told the media that the crime against his daughter is “an awakening” for India. It certainly has been an awakening for much of the world, as I wrote in this op-ed for CNN. The local and international media have been cracking open issues from dowry-related burnings of women to street harassment, asking exactly what is wrong with men in India to have created such a culture of hate and violence against women. It is heartening to watch the introspection.
We know that victims of wartime rape are not just victims, or even survivors. They are mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, teachers, advocates, cooks, helpers, and dreamers. A new video series about Congo offers a fuller story of the country and its people than what we usually see.
In January 2011, The Economist published the number of women raped in six conflicts, including an estimate of 500,000 women raped in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Many readers may have taken these statistics at face value. In fact, however, estimates of rape in Rwanda range from 250,000 to 500,000 and are based on the number of reported pregnancies from rape, which underestimates prevalence.
I was sexually abused at the age of 6. I did not know this experience was merely an initiation into sexualized violence that seems, too often, throughout the world to be as inescapable a part of becoming a woman as menstruation. My experience of sexualized violence culminated in being brutally raped while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, West Africa.
- All Tags
- #MeToo
- Abortion
- accountability
- activism
- Activism and advocacy
- activist
- adelitas
- Advertising
- Afghanistan
- Africa
- African American
- Afro Colombian
- Afro descendant
- Afro Latinas
- age disriminatio
- ageism
- Aid
- Alana Casanova-Burgess
- Alt-Right
- Amelia Baca
- Americas
- Ana De Armas
- Andrea Echeverri
- Andrea Gonzalez Ramirez
- Andrea Ruiz Costas
- Antiracism
- appropriation
- Argentina
- arrests
- Art
- Artificial Intelligence
- Asia
- Asian
- Asian American/Pacific Islander
- Assault
- Aurora Guerrero
- Awards
- Bahamas
- Biden Harris
- Bikes
- Black
- Black History Month
- Black Lives Matter
- Blue Beet
- Blue Beetle
- Bolivia
- Book banning
- Books
- border
- Boston Tea party
- Brazil
- Burma
- Campus rape
- Caribbean
- Caste
- Catholic Church
- Censorship
- chagas
- Chicanas
- Child Marriage
- Childfree
- Chile
- China
- Christian right
- Christianity
- cinema
- Civics
- Civil rights
- Civil unions
- Civil War
- Classism
- Climate
- Climate change
- College
- Colombia
- colonial
- Colonialism
- colorism
- Columbus Day
- comics
- commentary
- Communal violence
- communities
- Community leaders
- comp
- Confederate
- Conflict
- Congo
- Congress
- Constitutional Assembly
- Contraception
- coup
- Courts
- Coverage
- COVID-19
- Criminal justice
- Critical Race Theory
- critique
- Cross-platform harassment
- CRT
- Cuba
- cultural appropriation
- Daisy Dominguez
- Daisy Hernandez
- Dance
- Deaf
- Democracy
- Democrat
- Denmark
- Derek Chauvin
- Disability
- Discrimination
- Diversity
- documentaries
- Domestic violence
- Doxing
- DRC
- Drea
- Dreamers
- Dress code
- Drones
- Economy
- Education
- El Progreso
- Elections
- elitism
- Emmys
- entertainment
- Equal Pay
- Equality
- Equity
- ERA
- Erasure
- Ethio
- Ethnic cleansing
- Europe
- Europe and Central Asia
- Evangelicals
- experts
- Exploitation
- Extremism
- faith
- Fake news
- Family
- Family leave
- Family Planning
- Fashion
- FCC
- Femicide
- feminicidios
- feminism
- feminist
- feministas
- Feminists
- FGM
- Film
- Fiona
- flooding
- floodinh
- Francia marquez
- Free Speech
- Fundamentalism
- Futuro Studios
- Gaming
- Gang violence
- gender
- Gender Based Violence
- Gender bias
- Genocide
- George Floyd
- Gerald Byers
- Global Gag Rule
- Gloria Ro
- gloria Rojas
- Gloria Steinem
- Grammys
- Grassroots
- Greece
- Greg Abbot
- Guest workers
- guilty verdict
- Gun violence
- Harvey Weinstein
- HB 3979
- Health
- Health care
- hearings
- Henry Cuellar
- High school
- Hillary Clinton
- Hispanics
- History
- HIV/AIDS
- Homophobia
- hong
- Hong Kong
- Housing
- Human rights
- Human trafficking
- Humanitarianism
- hurricanes
- ICC
- ICE
- Identity
- illustration
- immigrants
- Immigration
- Imperialism
- imperialistas
- Impunity
- In the Heights
- Incarceration
- Inclusion
- India
- Indigenous
- Indonesia
- Inter-American Court of Human Rights
- International
- International Law
- Internet governance
- Internet policy
- Intersectionality
- Intimate Partner Violence
- Iran
- Iraq
- Islam
- Islamophobia
- Jacob Chansley
- Jails
- Japan
- Jessica Cis
- Jessica Cisneros
- Jessica Krug
- Jessica Ramos
- Jewish
- Jineth Bedoya Lima
- Joe Biden
- Journalism
- journalist
- journalists
- Jovita Idar
- Judiciary
- Justice
- Kamala Harris
- Karina Claudio Betancourt
- Kashmir
- Kavumu
- Keishla Rodriguez Ortiz
- Keith Ellison
- Kentanji Brown Jackson
- Kenya
- Kerner
- Kerner Commission
- Kissing Bug
- Korea
- Kosovo
- La brega
- La Cronica
- Labor
- Labor unions
- Las Cruces
- Latin America
- Latin Women's Collective
- Latina
- Latinas
- Latine
- Latines
- Latino
- Latino market
- Latinos
- Latinx
- Law
- Leadership
- Lena Dunham
- Leymah Gbowee
- LGBTQAI
- Lola Velázquez-Aguilu
- machismo
- Malawi
- Male Allies
- Mali
- Mapuche
- Maria
- Maria Agui Carter
- Maria Hinojosa
- Marital rape
- marriage
- Masculinity
- Maternal health
- Media
- Media coverage
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Men
- menstruation
- Mental Health
- mentorship
- Meryl Streep
- metoo
- Mexican American
- Mexican Revolution
- Mexican Studies
- Mexicana
- Mexicanas
- Mexico
- Middle East and North Africa
- Migration
- Military
- Minneapolis
- Minnesota
- mujeres
- Museums
- Music
- Myanmar
- NAHJ
- Name It Change It
- Nana
- Natasha Bannan
- Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan
- Native American
- Native Americans
- Net neutrality
- Netflix
- New Mexico
- New York
- News
- News Radio
- newsrooms
- Nigeria
- Nikki Haley
- No Es Hora De Callar
- nobodies
- Non-consensual pornography
- Nonconsensual pornography
- Northern Ireland
- NYPD
- On the Media
- Oscars
- Paid sick leave
- Pakistan
- Parenthood
- Paula White
- pay equity
- pay gay
- Peace
- Peru
- Philippines
- Pinochet
- Planned Parenthood
- plebiscite
- plebiscito
- Podcast
- Poetry
- police violence
- Policing
- Politics
- Pope Francis
- Pornography
- poseurs
- Poverty
- power
- Presidential debates
- Press freedom
- pretendians
- Pride
- Prison
- privilege
- Pro-choice
- production
- progressives
- prosecution
- protests
- Puerto Rican
- Puerto Ricans
- Puerto Rico
- quarter
- Queer
- Race
- Rachel Dolezal
- Racism
- Radio
- RAICES
- Rape
- Rape and death threats
- Rebel
- Refugees
- Religion
- Religious right
- representation
- Reproductive health
- Reproductive rights
- Republican
- Republicans
- retention
- Rita Moreno
- rock
- Rohingya
- Rossana Rosado
- Rula Asad
- runoff
- salary inequity
- SB3
- SB8
- Science Fiction
- Section 230
- Security
- Senate
- Sex education
- Sex Trafficking
- Sexism
- Sexual assault
- Sexual harassment
- Sexuality
- Sexualized violence
- Sheryl Sandberg
- Slavery
- Smithsonian
- Social media
- Social Security
- Sofia Quintero
- soldaderas
- Somaliland
- Sonia Sotomayor
- South & Central America
- South Africa
- South America
- South Sudan
- southwest
- Sri Lanka
- stephen
- Steven Spielberg
- Stigma
- Superhero
- support
- Supreme Court
- surveillance
- Syria
- teacher
- team
- Technology
- Tejana
- Tejanas
- Television
- Texas
- Theater
- Tina Vásquez
- Title IX
- Toni Morrison
- Tony Kushner
- Trafficking
- Transgender
- Trauma
- Trump
- Turkey
- TV
- Uber
- UK
- Union
- United Church of Christ
- United Nations
- US mint
- VAW
- Venezuela
- Veteran
- Veterans
- Veterans Day
- Violence
- Visas
- Visual art
- visuals
- Vladimir Putin
- vote
- voters
- War
- Water
- West Side Story
- White supremacy
- Wikipedia
- WMA
- WNYC
- Women
- women leadership
- Women of color
- Women's history
- Women's leadership
- Women's March
- Women's Media Awards
- Women's Media Center
- women's rights
- Work
- Work life balance
- Working families
- workplace
- Yazidis
- Young Lords
- Young women
- YouTube
- Zapatistas
- Zimbabwe
- Zurizadai Balmakund-Santiago