Thursday, January 27, 2011

Woman raped once and then again by Peace Corp

I have just heard about a problem in the Peace Corp that has been reported as early as last summer but is just now getting some attention. There are women in the corp who have been raped then blamed by the corp for the rape. One woman was murdered by another Peace Corp member after she reported him for raping and molesting some of of his students, impregnating several of them. Many of his students stopped going to class because of the abuse. When this dedicated young woman, Kate Puzey, reported him in an email, which she was assured would remain confidential, his brother who worked in the office she reported to, was informed of her email and the man in question whose name I can not find spelling for but which sounds like Constant Beeo (sic), slit her throat in the middle of the night.

We know that in this country, the great USA, we are not safe as women. We know that we can be beaten, raped and murdered just like so many of our sisters. We are on guard all the time and when we are not on guard, often we are smacked in the face with a close call that "wises us up". We are angry and we are sometimes militant in our own anger and defense. But we should also know that women all over the world, in third world countries and in the middle east have it so much worse than we do. I don't have to recite the reasons these women and girls demand our attention. Hillary Clinton famously said that "womens rights are human rights". Still it seems that some people do not understand what that means. They STILL think that women should shut up until more important issues are addressed.

Women in the Peace Corp have been raped and then sent for only three counseling sessions to help them get over it. One women reports that she was forced by the therapist to write out all the ways that she had caused what happened to her and what measures she would take to make sure she did not cause anyone to rape her again.
You can see all of these reports here at ABC's web site.
Then if you have a few more minutes watch this video of Meryl Streep talking about women's human rights after first viewing a video of the lives of Afghan women. She makes a great advocate.

Here are a few more links to stories and videos pertaining to this news story. This has taken way too long to come to light. Please go read and watch and then tell me again how you can only vote for democratic party approved women and because your uterus is your most compelling internal organ, you won't vote for republican women because they might vote against abortion.
Hell, Obama voted against abortion rights every time he voted "present" when the subject came up in the Illinois legislature. He also said "women shouldn't be able to get a late term abortion just because they have the blues". Ummm, Mr President, they don't, they have late term abortions to save their life, or when the baby is dead or has no brain. Learn something before you speak on the topic again.

Links links and more links.