Real Men Don't Rape

I have spent much of my summer focused on the topic of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV). The Ministry of Gender and Development, where I work, has made combating SGBV a top priority. It is a topic that one should not – and can not – avoid in Liberia.

Last weekend I attended the “Stop Rape” concert in Monrovia. Held at the Samuel K Doe Stadium (where I attended the soccer game; see my blog from June), this was the culmination of a six-month rape prevention campaign organized by the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Like the soccer game (but safer), Liberians poured into the Stadium for the 10-hour event.

Dancers, drummers, singers, acrobats, drama troupes, comedian, movie stars, religious leaders, representatives of the different Ministries, Ambassadors, the Vice President all took the stage to vocalize their concern about rape in Liberia.

Rape is a horrific problem in Liberia and the statistics are shocking. A study was conducted by the World Health Organization in partnership with the Ministry of Gender and Development in 2005. 2,828 women and girls from around the country were interviewed about their experience during Liberia’s civil war.

* 93% said they suffered physical or sexual violence during the war.

* 73% were sexually violated or raped, many of them gang raped.

Sadly, Sexual and Gender Based Violence is still prevalent today. One recent study found that in the last two years, 72 percent of Liberian women faced marital rape and over 50 percent of women experienced violent sexual assault. Thus, the war on women has continued despite Liberia's broader transition to peace.

Another study was conducted in 2006 at the Benson Hospital in Paynesville by Doctors without Borders Spain. They interviewed 658 who reported being raped since the end of the war:

* 85% of the 658 survivors interviewed were children under the age of 18.
* 48% of all survivors were between the ages of 5 and 12.
* In more than 90% of the cases involving children, they were raped by someone they knew.  
* In cases involving child victims, 40% of the perpetrators were also under age 18. In some cases, perpetrators were as young as 6 or 7 years old.
* 66% of the incidents took place in either the victim's or the perpetrator's home.
* 17% of the assaults occurred on during the Christmas, New Years or Liberian Independence Day (July 26).
* 25% of adult women and 18% of adolescents report being gang raped.
* 28% of the victims reported that they had been sexually assaulted by the same perpetrator more than once.
* 88% of victims had a documented physical injury at the time of the examination.


The following numbers were reported to our Ministry (this does not come close to capturing the true number, as only a few organizations / hospitals / partners / counties sent their figures) for the first five months of 2008:

* 450 cases of Rape and 109 cases of domestic violence
* Of the rape cases, 84% (379) of the survivors were younger than 18; 45% (201) were younger than 13; and 9% (39 cases) were between one (1) and five (5) years old.

At the Stop Rape concert, the messages displayed on the Megatron at the concert were memorable, if not sometimes disturbing or bizarre:

“Real Men Don’t Rape”
[this was also chanted as a call and response throughout the day. Call: "Real Men?" Response: "DON'T RAPE!!!"]

“Stop rape, prevent it, report it.”

“Make love not Rape”

“Mutual Understanding is the best way out”

“Whatever I wear, wherever I go, Yes means Yes, No means No”

“My strength is not for hurting, so when she was drunk, I backed off.”

“Love means never having to say you’re sorry”

“It’s absolutely wrong, stop it now!”

“Not in our city. End sexual violence.”

“Choices. Keep it in your pants.”

“You hold the power to stop rape in your hand. It could be your mother, sister, aunty, or niece”

One speaker -- "Lady Love," who is a Liberian singer / performer -- chastised women for dressing in short skirts, and chided the men by saying: "As the Bible says: ASK, and it shall be given unto you." My guess is that the UN had not vetted her speech.

For the event at the stadium, I helped prepare a speech for the Assistant Minister for Gender and Development. It concluded with the following words:

“Those who endure rape are NOT victims – they are SURVIVORS. We must ensure that we do not unintentionally rob them of their inherent power. When we speak of rape survivors solely in terms of vulnerability, we do not do justice to the courage, ingenuity, and capability they display on a daily basis. Survivors must be empowered, not stigmatized. Let us work together to make Liberia a place where all people can stand under God with dignity, grace, integrity … and also in security...

I’d like to conclude with a segment from a poem. It was written by an award-winning African-American Poet, Maya Angelou, who herself survived sexual assault at the age of eight. She wrote:

You may trod me
in the very dirt
But still,
like dust,
I'll rise.

In Liberia, survivors of rape WILL RISE. And we, as a Liberian people, will work together to end this horrible travesty that threatens our nation. Please join me in this important, necessary, and urgent endeavor. I thank you."