Last September marked the second year of my volunteer work as a victim advocate with my town’s sexual and domestic violence center. It took me two years to gather the courage to apply, but the training and experience has been invaluable. I’ve learned a lot about people, their coping mechanisms, their values, and what they may need from me. I’ve also learned how to set healthy boundaries, how to practice self-care, and what loving myself means to me. Continue reading
sexual assault
Gawker has an article today about three women who were arrested in Zimbabwe for alleged sexual assault and were found to have 31 condoms – “some with semen” – stashed in a boyfriend’s car. The author appears entirely baffled as to the nature of the crime, but her description of the press coverage as “slightly witch-hunty” is more accurate than she may realize.
Ritualistic sexual assault is actually just one particularly disturbing aspect of the larger phenomenon of witchraft and ostensibly magical practices that are commonly referred to as “juju” and remain widespread even in relatively developed and educated nations such as Zimbabwe. According to a recent study, sperm (in addition to blood, hair, and worse things) is collected for ritual purposes, often by force: Continue reading
While the trial of Casey Anthony enthralled the country, another very important trial was going on as well. Jamie Leigh Jones claimed she was drugged, brutally gang-raped, and held captive by co-workers while working in Iraq for KBR/Halliburton. Like many others, she was influenced by the company’s claims of a safe working environment for women, while being able to earn a decent income. When she arrived in Iraq, she was housed in a trailer surrounded by men, even though she was promised to be housed with other women. Not long after her arrival, she states that she was drugged with Rohypnol and attacked in such a brutal manner that she required reconstructive surgery. According to her claims, when she reported it, she was taken to a shipping container and held while she begged to be released. Continue reading