{"id":7843,"date":"2009-06-01T23:40:43","date_gmt":"2009-06-02T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=7843"},"modified":"2009-06-01T23:40:43","modified_gmt":"2009-06-02T07:00:31","slug":"silence-is-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=7843","title":{"rendered":"Silence is the Enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marine biologist Sheril Kirshenbaum is, along with Chris Mooney, a co-blogger at The Intersection<\/a>, a blog on science and public policy whose RSS feed should be in your reader, and if it isn’t, you should go, right now, and rectify the situation.<\/p>\n

Done? Good. Now let’s talk about the epidemic of rape facing young women around the world.<\/p>\n

Sorry to shift gears without depressing the clutch, but I do so for a reason: to draw attention to an effort launched by Kirshenbaum<\/a> to attack a problem that is horrifying in its scope:<\/p>\n

Today begins a very important initiative called\u00a0Silence Is The Enemy\u00a0to help a generation of young women half a world away.Why?\u00a0 Because they are our\u00a0sisters and children<\/a>\u2013the\u00a0victims of sexual abuse<\/a> who\u00a0don\u2019t have the means<\/a> to ask for help.\u00a0 We have power in\u00a0our words and influence<\/a>. Along with our audience, we\u2019re\u00a0able to speak<\/a> for them.\u00a0 I\u2019m asking all of you\u2013bloggers, writers, teachers, and concerned citizens\u2013to use whatever platform you have to call for an\u00a0end to the rape<\/a>and abuse of women and girls in Liberia<\/a> and\u00a0around the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In regions where fighting has formally ended, rape continues to be used as a weapon. As\u00a0Nicholas Kristof<\/a>recently wrote from West Africa, \u2018it has been easier to get men to relinquish their guns than their sense of sexual entitlement.\u2019 The war has shattered norms, training some men to think that \u2018when they want sex, they need simply to overpower a girl.\u2019 An International Rescue Committee survey suggests 12 percent of girls aged 17 and under acknowledged having been sexually abused in some way over the previous 18 months.\u00a0 Further, of the 275 new sexual violence cases treated Jan-April by Doctors Without Borders, 28 percent involve children aged 4 or younger, and 33 percent involve children aged 5 through 12.\u00a0That\u2019s 61% age 12 or under.\u00a0\u00a0We read about their plight and see the figures, but it\u2019s so easy to feel helpless to act in isolation. But these are not statistics, they are girls.\u00a0 Together we can do more.\u00a0 Mass rape persists because of inertia so let\u2019s create momentum.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Silence Is The Enemy\u00a0was born\u2013so named because we will not be. All through June, I\u2019ll continue posting information, details, benchmarks, and let everyone know about progress made, new initiatives, and stories from the region. I encourage others to do so as possible.\u00a0\u00a0The Intersection<\/a>,\u00a0On Becoming A Laboratory And Domestic Goddess<\/a>,\u00a0Aetiology<\/a>,\u00a0Bioephemera<\/a>,\u00a0Neurotopia<\/a>,\u00a0The Questionable Authority<\/a>,\u00a0DrugMonkey<\/a>,\u00a0andAdventure In Ethics And Science<\/a> will be donating all revenue this month to Doctors Without Borders. The goal is two-fold:\u00a0 Raising funds and\u2013arguably more importantly\u2013awareness. Since blogging revenue increases with traffic, we hope to get people to keep coming back for more information about what\u2019s going on and thinking about how to make a difference. Do not feel obligated to donate, but it\u2019s one idea. There are many ways to contribute:\u00a0 Write and email Members of Congress (Congressional Directory here<\/a>), speak at community meetings, encourage others to get involved, or donate to our chosen charity (Doctors Without Borders<\/a>). Help us maximize our donations by visiting\u00a0Isis<\/a>,\u00a0Jessica<\/a>,\u00a0Tara<\/a>,\u00a0Neurotopia<\/a>,\u00a0Mike<\/a>,\u00a0DrugMonkey<\/a>,\u00a0Janet<\/a> and returning\u00a0here<\/a> often because every click will help raise money.\u00a0Spread the word.\u00a0 We want to make sure elected officials at multiple levels realize this is a global issue that matters to a large voting constituency!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I will be donating to M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res<\/em> this month, and I encourage others to do the same. But whether you can donate money, or simply can donate your effort spreading the word that rape is not acceptable, and that you support efforts to end it, your efforts matter. It is incumbent on all of us to say that we will not be silent in the face of these attacks, and that the safety and well-being of the women and girls of Africa matters every bit as much as the safety of Americans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marine biologist Sheril Kirshenbaum is, along with Chris Mooney, a co-blogger at The Intersection, a blog on science and public policy whose RSS feed should be in your reader, and if it isn’t, you should go, right now, and rectify … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132,40,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-international-issues","category-rape-intimate-violence-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}