Soohyun Lee "Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War "

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/africa/07congo.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=violence%20toward%20women&st=cse&scp=1


In this article, Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist shows how women in Congo suffer from sexual assaults. According to this article, "the sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world and researchers fear that Congo’s problem has metastasized into a wider social phenomenon. It is gone beyond the conflcit as the number of women abused and even killed by their husbands seemed to be going up and that brutality toward women had become almost normal."

The purpose of this article is to inform readers how severe the situation of women in Congo is and urge them to take action to aid these women. The writer especially talked about limited resources for rape victims as the following.

"But the problem seems bigger than the resources currently devoted to it. Panzi Hospital has 350 beds, and though a new ward is being built specifically for rape victims, the hospital sends women back to their villages before they have fully recovered because it needs space for the never-ending stream of new arrivals."

Moreover, quoting from the victims who suffered extreme violence, the writer tried to excite reader's sympathy and let readers understand the mental and phisical hardships faced by Congolese women.

Reading this article, I could not believe the harsh situation faced by the women in Congo. Since they have different culture and background than mine, It was hard to sympathize with them. The limitation lies in the fact that it is a publication. It might have left out necessary and crucial information or reasons behind the violence taken place in Congo as the authorities can always manipulate the article before its publication. Moreover, since this harsh case is only relevant to women in Congo, it hinders us from getting overall view on oppression of women.


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"Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 7 Sep. 2008 .