I am not a very religious person but I sure hope that there is a special place in hell for men who harm children and women.
5
Approximately 3 women are murdered every day by spouses and boyfriend in the US, mostly with guns. We have rape, trafficking, kiddie porn and lots of good ole beatings in astronomical numbers. #Metoo is a flesh wound compared to the savagery against women in the US. To expect a predator president, his misogynist GOP stooges, and the religious right to do anything for women in ANY country is like looking for a pony under a big pile of manure.
5
The rape and murder of little Asifa is almost as far as one can possibly get from Harvey Weinstein and still be talking about sexual crimes, that it is surprising that you should even consider protests in India regarding her rape and murder as an example of me too movement going global. Asifa's rape and murder is primarily a hate crime. It is not a symptom of male misogyny characterized by the MeToo movement but more a feeling of sanction to commit hate crimes with impunity that Modi has granted to upper caste Hindu's.
2
All I can say is: Thank you for this column. It should be printed as a broadside and dropped from helicopters.
4
I get what the author is trying to say, but not every fight against oppressors of women on this planet is related to #metoo movement. Most Indians have not even heard of the metoo movement. Many pro-women protests in the rest of the world have a life/history of their own. The Asifa-related fight against those filthy Hindu extremists by the normal Indians is largely a collective response of Indians to the recent rise of far-right saffron-extremism in India. It might also lead to a full-fledged pro-woman movement.
1
Nick Kristof: the voice that must be heard. And heeded.
2
This is horrific. It is good that a movement is taking hold in India. And it is good that it is being reported on.
The UK needs such a movement too. In many northern English towns, English girls have been groomed and raped for years by Muslim gangs, euphemistically referred by the MSM as Asian grooming gangs. This occurred in Rochdale, Rotherham, Telford, etc, to thousands of underaged English girls, over a 40-year period.
Very sadly, the abuse is still ongoing, and the authorities have hardly done their jobs to protect these English girls. The UK MSM reports, but just barely, upon these atrocities. The UK needs a #MeToo movement, too. But somehow I do not think that it will get it, because it does not fit the PC narative.
Nonetheless, a suggestion for a similar piece, for the English girls.
4
#metoo didn’t go global. What it did was give media coverage and attention to long ongoing global struggles.
3
There are many social evils in India and one of the worst of them is dowry. It pervades all aspects of India - regardless of wealth, education and caste. A girl and her marriage bankrupted many families. It usually ended up with many families with no retirement savings. The macabre solution was to abort all female conceptions. In a matter of two to three decades India went from a majority of women to men. That drastic social engineering has led to many unintended consequences and along with drastic changes in economy has led to this tragic outcome. While South Asian countries always claimed moral ascendancy over the West for having elected powerful prime ministers and national leaders who were women ( Unlike US) they ceded it in the way they treat women and children. While ordinary citizens are appalled by what has transpired the political class would care less. POTUS uses crass language in describing women and Modhi looks the other way while his ilk does the same. How we treat is how we should be measured.
3
What an awful predicament, the impunity of pervert men that go on raping and killing women, a worldwide phenomenon that demands urgent attention and action to severely punish the culprits, and find ways to educate ourselves in respecting each other since childhood. That there is a 'religious flavor' and fervor in all this is an outrage. In Bolivia, likewise, it's macho society abuses, and even kills, women regularly, and with impunity. Are we so sexually repressed that we have to become criminals to reach our goal, dehumanizing us in the process? Is Modi complicit in the killing, and rape, of this girl? That seems the case, given that he remains silent in the face of this monstrosity. Unfortunately, Modi is but one of the many with the same misogynous attitude.
5
My problem is that the 'Me Too' movement, as it has evolved, has redefined 'sexual assault' so broadly now as to equate a lewd comment, flirting, or almost any interaction of a man with a woman that the woman decides (sometimes months or years later) was inappropriate, with the rape of am 8-year-old girl. And that an accusation must receive unquestioned credulity and any contrary argument is shouted down (e.g., Matt Damon). When the Me Tooers ask rhetorically, 'why would she lie?' they go apoplectic when one answers truthfully, 'we live in a culture where victimhood is esteemed, and claiming it garners you a lot of 'likes' (e.g., the NYT's Pulitzer for promoting this jeremiad).
Sorry, Mr Kristof. But as a former feminist (I won't answer to what the label has become) who has shrugged off more sexual assaults and indignities than you will ever know, I can't march in your lockstep ... in fact, to equate the horror of this little girl's rape with most of what the Me Tooers complain about is highly offensive to me, and one reason (of several) I let my NYT subscription lapse. To give you people money would only encourage you.
5
Sorry, shouldn't the priority of Americans be to get rid of Donald Trump, a Republican Congress, and a backwards Supreme Court, rather than trying to dictate to other countries and peoples what they should do?
As the last few paragraphs illustrate, lasting progress requires the primacy of the rule of law. People who set out to weaken it are no friend to women, or anyone else.
3
As a fellow Oregonian, I applaud your on-going efforts on behalf of women. We need more enlightened and confident men to speak out as you do on these issues of note to all of us, not just women.
Men such as you who are understanding, caring and aware are really much more attractive to us ladies than the boasting, preening and vulgar actions of so many men - including the one in the oval office who fancies himself such a Lothario.
7
All these vile men have mothers. I bet most of these men have the open if not tacit approval of their own mothers.
2
"Most" (?) mothers are onboard with their sons being rapists?
I doubt your completely unsupported conjecture, but it's useless in any event. Men and women who grow up in dehumanizing belief systems may well hold this belief. When one's survival depends on supporting a vicious status quo, it might be impossible to envision a more humane world.
Mr. Kristof, however, is absolutely correct that educating women has been proven to help families and communal stability.
2
Thank you, Nick. This is painful to read, but it's important.
12
#MeToo has power only to the extent that the viewers are inclined to react one way, to reject the treatment of the victims. In India, the murder victim was detested because she was from a Muslim family. When a whole community sanctions such evil, what can outsiders do?
7
The whole community didn't, though; Mr. Kristof mentions Hindus who spoke out for this little girl.
I share your concern that a solution coming from outsiders is a tough sell. For people who care about the welfare and women and children, helping local education supporters can help. Facts show that educating women and girls is a crucial baby step.
Yes, our country is in the fight of its life to remain a nation of laws and fairness to all. To those helping the world's most vulnerable people, however, Mr. Kristof is to be commended for speaking truthfully about this issue.
2
Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights, once and for all.
~ Hillary Clinton, 1995
31
I read this quote to my 6-year old daughter all the time. And my 10-year old son, too.
4
It's amusing to see Mr. Kristof, always desperate to explain away the abominable treatment of women in Muslim majority countries, try to fit the Muslim world's assault on women into the West's 'me too' movement. The difference is that in the U.S. a woman may find herself subjected to sexual harrassment in order to advance her career (which is terrible enough). In the Muslim world women are regularly subjected to genital mutilation, forced marriages, and the death penalty for adultery or apostasy. As the feminist advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali has noted, there is no worse fate than to be born female in a Muslim-majority country. Mr. Kristof feels he can't discuss this situation because of political correctness, and so he tries to make it about how 'all countries' (including the U.S.) treat women. In reality, there's no comparison.
18
Yes, the Women's Movement is going international and it started with over 5 MILLION women and supporters on January 26, 2017 with the Women's March on Washington.
Women from all over the world participated and realized that it is centuries past time for them to be used as property and throw-away sex fodder by men.
Women will not continue to accept this kind of behavior. Women will not go back to 5th/15th century thinking. Women in America will not go back to the 1950s.
Women in America will lead women around the world to DEMAND equal participation in all parts of society.
Except organized religion because it has been the backbone of "men are better" fiction. Women can practice their spirituality - and the inalienable right given to them by the universe to choose what they do with their own bodies and lives - anywhere but in mass/church/temple/mosque. It is time for those institutions to die of old age.
17
Oops. The Women's March was January 21, 2017.
1
Being religious does not mean someone is also a knee-jerk authoritarian. Tarring all people of faith with same brush is intellectually unfair.
Piety parading as righteousness can often lead to crimes against humanity. I believe religion is often used as a cover for those whose actions are actually motivated by greed and a lust for power, whether the criminal realizes the source of his motivations or not.
I don't have the knowledge base to debate the merits of various world religions. To me, Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, fundamental Islam and inerrantist Christianity can all stifle the humanity of women and men.
The problems begin with a lack of critical thinking, ignorance of history and the failure to recognize the inherent dignity due every human being.
2
When unsavoury people feel out of control they tend to look for a victim they can control. There are many types of rape. The worst involve children. Those people should be locked up with other pedifiles and throw away the key. Our main problem here in the U.S is that an unsavoury person was voted in as president. Thank you Mr. Kristof for another insightful article that everyone should read.
9
Bangladesh has unfortuntaley taken a terrile step backward by recently introducing the so-called "Child Marriage Restraint Bill" that keeps the legal age of marriage as 18 for women and 21 for men but introduces exceptions in “special cases” or for in the “best interests” of the adolescent. What nonsense! These "special cases"and "best interests" are but another name for rape or forcing a raped girl to marry the rapist. This is a global phenomena that must be eradicated, just like we want to eradicate malaria. Consider the growth of "Incel" movement - Involuntarily Celibate - in North America and the recent Toronto killings. Many men all over the world have declared war on women and their bodies. It is for all of us, men and women, to stop these rapists and killers, through strong laws and heightened public awareness.
19
The US can never be a leader on these issues without leaders in the White House, the Cabinet and Congress that believe these issues have merit and are willing to lead the country and the world into the future.
The horrors that exist today around the world, should make our current leadership act, but as we see daily, it won't.
3
#Metoo means different things in other countries. In countries like India law enforcement is weak even where it exists. They are ruled by dictators and authoritarian rulers, thugs(modi and his hindu mob in india), and the courts, police and media are controlled, manipulated and bribed by the mob. In pakistan, christians were burned alive sometime ago. A few hindus may have protested Modi’s utter failure to protect this 8 year old child, and continuing failure to protect muslims. They are far too few and ‘liberals’ and ‘hippies’ in their society.
4
Words well said said well Nicholas. Thank you.
Civility is a thin veneer that needs tending and deserves spreading all over Earth.
Humanity is many but Humanity is one.
Men and women are not "equal" because "equal" means "the same", but men and women are "equally" or "similarly" human, so deserve equal respect and equal rights.
5
I am giving you an online standing ovation.
This is what I've been angrily screaming like a crazy person for the past decade. If a woman dies even in childbirth that is everyone's problem because she is no longer earning money for her family or helping raise her children. And this worldwide acceptance of extreme and aggravated violence against women and girls hurts everyone. I do agree that the US should support women abroad but we (and I realize I'm writing from London, but I am an American) need to start at home. This very paper released a piece on the high rate of maternal mortality particularly among black women in the US. Women exceed men in Universities, but still have not caught up in employment or higher education. Our federal representation is only 20%. Women make up half the population and yet only 20% of our representatives are female. Men demonstrably have not been able to fairly represent female constituents so step one is to get more women into office at all levels. 50-50 is fair. 20-80 is not fair. This is simple. We also need to reform the judiciary to take violence against women and other minorities seriously. The vast majority of mass shooters have a history of domestic violence. If our system prosecuted domestic violence, those mass shooters would not have had the opportunity to kill as many people as they did. We can fix this ... provided men start seeing women as people rather than a means to an end.
9
Thank you Mr. Krugman. As a medicla doctor, I saw numerous instances of rape, and in fact we had a separate ward for these young girls, some as young as 8. And these were only the ones brought to the hospital, there was/is such a stigma attached to rape even now. We would get so angry, that we felt like chopping off a male appendage (of course we would never do that in real life). tarring and feathering, riding through the streets seated backwards on a donkey ...
My PhD was on adolescent pregnancy. Once again, I was astonished about how young the sample population was, again, the youngest being 10.
I agree with another writer that the issue will not go away, (there is no such thing as zero risk, bu we can definitely reduce statistical risk). but we can reduce its occurrence, through a multi-modal approach. Males need to be brought into this conversation.
15
The sad reality is that most young women have a #metoo story. Not all of them are as violent as what this young child experienced but it's a rite of passage as young girls start to mature into young women. Mariska Hargitay talked about the letters she used to get from survivors when SVU first started & they inspired her to start The Joyful Heart Foundation. The idea that women are equal is a fairly new concept.
You can always tell the health of a country by how they treat their women & young girls. A healthy country educates their girls, doesn't practice child marriage, & doesn't condone rape regardless of what religion or caste you fall into. The US fought for these truths starting with the suffragettes & ending with the women's rights movement in the 70's. India is starting to have their moment & we should encourage and support their efforts.
While we should encourage our politicians to support women's rights around the world we don't have to wait for them to act to make a difference. Find an organization that meets your values & donate to their cause.
The malala fund supports education.
Period educates and breaks down the cultural taboos towards menstruation and provides menstruation products.
The orchid project helps victims of genital cutting and tries to end the practice through education.
Prajwala helps Indian women break free from prostitution and provides education, job training, and mental health care.
Women for women helps women in conflict zones.
66
Thank you. I had never heard of three of those organizations.
You talk as if the US struggle for women’s rights ended in the 1970’s. Sexual assault and harassment of women, including transgender women, by boys, men and other women is an ongoing ugly truth in this dystopian land of the free.
1
Thank you Nicholas for your time and energies spent in brining these issues to light so that good people everywhere can stand to stamp out injustice and cruelty and end the victimization and brutality against women. We must all stand together against such atrocities and call them out with clarity whenever and wherever they happen, over and over and over again. What is done to one of us, is done to all of us.
This is a crime against all women, all little girls and all families.
9
Hard to imagine such action by an administration whose base is so full of men petrified of losing their power privilege and whose leader is the quintessential scared male. That’s the source of all of this misogyny. We need to help men in this country and around the world discover the freedom of sharing power.
14
The United States had a highly qualified candidate who spent her entire career leading the charge for women's rights around the world, coining the phrase "Women's rights are human rights." Over half of white women in the U.S. voted against her, many more white men reviled her - and men and women on the left who call themselves feminists disparaged her in the most disgusting way as well - none of it based in fact or intellectual argument - but all heavily grounded in how Americans of all political stripes despise powerful, ambitious women. I do not feel very hopeful for the plight of vulnerable women around the world when wealthy nations like ours are complicit in the misogynist, women hating attitudes that endanger women everywhere.
34
So well said Dana. My heart just breaks everytime I hear women of my middle class denigrating Hillary Clinton, willing to believe all the negative things against her. Many of them preferred a misogynist bully a overqualified woman.
21
For years, I wondered why the American feminist movement wasn't speaking out about the violence and ordinary, day to day insults visited on women around the world. One of the most outstanding is the practice of female mutilation which, for those who are uninformed on the subject, generally involves cutting female genitals during early puberty so that, as a woman, there is no chance or almost no chance of pleasure in sex. When I first learned of this practice, I couldn't believe it.
Ted Turner, the founding owner of CNN, was the first person I heard speak against this practice in a public forum. Years ago during an appearance at the National Press Club in DC, Turner said those who practice such mutilation should turn their attention to cutting men if they are so concerned about limiting sexual expression.
Gradually I came to understand that American middle class women were largely silent about this and other outrages because it would make many of their own complaints seem shallow and perhaps unimportant. Pure politics, in other words. The only other explanation I could conjure was they wanted all of the attention on their own grievances.
Women around the world are treated horribly in nations where the mistreatment is not only taken for granted, it is socially and officially approved. It is time to have a complete awakening to this fact. And, furthermore, we should never allow our acceptance of "cultural diversity" to blind us to the outrages in front of our eyes. Never.
12
For decades MS Magazine reported on these issues. Mainstream media did not.
13
There are many of us working to end violence against women, and many of us funding that work. Your contempt for middle class women is part of the problem, not the solution. What, pray tell, are YOU doing? Most middle class American women are trying to survive and raise families in a country the values them less and less each year. Once again, a man thinks to tell women what we think?
12
So you are faulting American middle class women for not raising our voices against the sexual crimes of men around the world, because we are shallow and self-centered? When we have been told for generations that our voices don’t count, that our anger is unacceptable and somehow uglier than boys’ or men’s anger, and that our primary role is to be quiet and to support and soothe all the male egos in our lives? We have been shushed and ignored in classrooms and boardrooms, belittled and discounted educationally and financially, and held back from coming into our own full self-realization in a million ways large and small, for decades if not centuries. For many of us, #MeToo feels like the very first time the nation, if not yet the world, is really listening, and even so, we don’t yet have full confidence that this will last, and that we won’t still experience the two steps back that often happens when we take three steps forward. Making our voices heard is bone-deep tiring, so excuse us if we choose our battles. The #MeToo fight has hardly begun, not to mention the current assaults by this administration on women’s sovereignty over our own bodies. Or child marriages and genital mutilation taking place right here on US soil. Violence against women and children is abhorrent anywhere it occurs, and we need to shine the light into the dark places in our own house, as well. If a woman speaks out and no one is listening, does she make a sound?
14
I think this is an excellent summary of the #MeToo movement thus far:
"Can women harness the solidarity impulse of the millions of women who posted the #MeToo hashtag? Will millennials finish what earlier generations started and build enduring change on the job? Their success is far from certain. Elite and professional women are receiving the lion’s share of the attention, and few long-term solutions are being discussed. An effective social movement on workplace sexual harassment can’t stop there. It must broaden to include women of all backgrounds and should channel the outrage into organizational and legal transformation."
We have a long way to go in the US. Our ability to stop female circumcision and a Hindu/Buddhist rape feud may be a tad optimistic.
1
I hope that this girl becomes a true martyr for women's rights. As in, she is remembered, and her name cried out in protests against the brutality of patriarchy for years to come.
I wonder what percentage of American men willingly admit in a survey to raping a woman?
I feel painfully lucky right now to be a woman who lives here, not there.
How can we not care?
We cared when mostly young boys were being methodically abused by a system of power worldwide (priests in the Catholic Church).
Time to hold the abusers of young girls, sanctioned by police and governments, accountable worldwide, too.
These young women need to be brought up in discussions between our countries; embassies need to be reopened, and financial and military support should not be extended to such criminals.
If Trump wants to claim he supports women he can start by holding others accountable. I don't care that he's done distasteful things himself; we're stuck with him right now and I want ACTION! Millions of women cannot be left to suffer simply because this man is in office! The time is now!
5
"There I met a 4-year-old girl named Ida who had been raped so brutally that she needed surgery to repair internal injuries."
Why did the perpetrator's family bribe the police? Does his family believe that he is really a "good" man? Or is it to protect family "honor?"
From time to time, we should all ask ourselves whether we deserve to survive. Sometimes, it seems like we don't.
6
That's a very sad story, possibly the worst thing that can happen to a person happened to her. And yet you use it to promote your feminist agenda, and shed positive light on Me Too, a clearly destructive movement, swooping up too many innocent men, and paralyzing those who want to be good.
So back in the US, ill-defined sexual harassment laws are destroying a generation of men who are rightfully scared of talking to women. An ill-timed proposition could even be considered harassment, according to all feminist definitions. As long as men are being shamed throughout our country here in the US, I'm sorry, I don't care what happens elsewhere. You can't even shame me into changing my mind. These diversions make me sick that they use compassion to push agendas. ME Too has gone too far. Sexual assault is bad and should be punished, severely. Sexual harassment is extremely ill-defined to the point of ruining an entire generation of men. Because of me too chauvinism and misogyny will hit a nadir. I'm ok with that, because men have been shamed my whole life.
An "ill-timed proposition," PJ, is sexual harassment.
Get that through your heads, gentlemen.
2
Oh Boo Hoo! What about the men!?!??!?!!?
You say that sexual harassment laws are "destroying" a generation of men. Putting aside the patent ridiculousness of the assertion that men, especially a generation of them, are being destroyed by laws preventing sexual harassment of women, let's focus on your use of the words "destroyed" and "ruined."
You know who was destroyed? The eight year old GIRL who was raped and then had her skull bashed in with a rock. That's what being destroyed is. Her skull was destroyed. The girl who was raped at the age of *FOUR* had her internal organs damaged-- that's the definition of destruction. Her organs were ruined.
And you're whining because men are not allowed to harass their co-workers?
Having to go to a seminar on harassment is not being "destroyed." Having to moderate the comments you'd like to make about a woman's body is not being "destroyed." Having to refrain from "propositioning" your colleagues is not being ruined. Talking with HR is not being "ruined." Even being disciplined or losing your job is not being destroyed or ruined. (I note you have not provided a single example of this happening to an "innocent" man. Because it doesn't happen.)
You care about women so little that you don't even understand how offensive it is to whine about the petty grievances of men in America on an article commenting about the literal physical destruction of women's bodies for the sexual gratification of men.
15
My goodness. Are you really that scared of losing the ability to treat women as lesser beings than men? Or are you more scared about the prospect of just talking to us as regular people, deserving of your respect? You say bringing the pervasiveness of sexual harassment to light is ruining an "entire generation" of men? What about decades, if not centuries, of sexual abuse and harassment ruining generations of women's potential to contribute their skills to the betterment of humanity? As far as I can see, a few high-profile men have been punished, but there are any number of bosses, "friends" and colleagues out there whose inappropriate behavior towards women hasn't yet been touched by #MeToo. Sexual harassment is ill-defined because for far too long, harassing behaviors have been considered, by men, to be acceptable. Noone cared about what women think is acceptable, or not. It's really very simple. First, sexual matters have no place in a business environment. Second, every woman is able, and has the right, to decide for herself when her personal line has been crossed. You want that line to be defined? Just ASK her. Talk to us. We won't bite (unless you want us to, and we want to, as well).
9
oh god - I don't know how to fix this horror - my first thought in my apres-deux-birra fuzz is - everytime a woman doesn't say anything she allows a bad guy to continue his bad behaviour - onto the next unwilling victim.
I know women are typically physically smaller than men and thus naturally tend to demur to physical excesses - and men tend to feel hormonally and societally encouraged to push for further conquests so they can be a 'stud'.
In the absence of feeling secure individually, the internet is a wonderful tool for putting your message 'out there'
my partner came home sobbing after a bully temporary manager had corralled her in a backroom for half an hour and done a Hannibal Lecter lecture on her - I posted it on the organisation's Facebook, Twitter and another popular public forum - and the next day the state boss visited her office and assured her she would never see that guy again.
So - if you want results - don't bottle it up - put it out there on the net - and get results tonight !
6
Stop blaming women for men's terrible behavior. That's one way you can help fix this horror.
8
For all those with similar thoughts, for all those that believe we can all be "heroes" in the face of terror and that those who aren't are weak, read 'Trauma and Recovery' by Judith Herman. Recognize that shame, hiding what happened, blaming yourself, even cooperating with abusers, etc. are all the TYPICAL responses of people in sexual trauma and captivity. That is why it takes so long to report it, that is why so many don't ever report it, that is why the people who do stand up are extremely courageous and usually need robust support. We all need to educated ourselves and stop living in the fantasy world we wish existed. It should be obvious after reading this article that reality is harsh and far from what the movies teach us.
3
This story just proves how far we have yet to go as a Civilization.
Any man who does this is less than human. And that goes for the housewives who wanted the men to go free.
Religious beliefs have given these so called people a reason for committing vile acts in the name of their God. It is genocide, not just rape.
And we in the States have been guilty of our own genocides, starting with the American Indians and continuing with the lynching of Blacks. We are not exactly a beacon to the rest of the world.
13
All of this is the tip of the iceberg as children are sexually abused every day here in this country by family members . This. Is the story that has not yet been fully exposed...too painful and too close...
14
Judging by the number of responsse here, this subject provokes little more than a yawn from readers. What are the chances that the plight of women in this world will change anytime soon?
3
One is speechless after reading such an article. And frankly, despairing.
Why are we not waging war on such evil? How is this any different from the holocaust or other such tragedies? Why do we allow this to go on? Why? We should all be ashamed.
Please keep writing about this. Thank you.
16
There is no money in this war for defense contractors and payola for GOP politicians.
"When millions of girls and women are brutalized, we’re all diminished....The U.S. could show leadership in addressing these issues."
OK, so Cindy McCain is a saint from what I have heard. But we need you too John. Start by draining the swamp at the top.
1
So much pain, suffering and humiliation. I applaud Nicholas Kristof. He writes about things that are hard to read and difficult to comprehend.
The comments are also excellent.
While I will consider supporting organizations that help women and the poor around the world, I will continue to stay focused on driving out of the US Congress men and women who oppose family planning and population control, and attempts to stop the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change, including ocean acidification and global warming with the expected sea level rise. Replacing these anti-science ideologues with representatives that respect science and environmental issues and data-based truth will make a big difference in
ameliorating some of the suffering that Kristof describes.
And, if we don't curb out of control population control, while causing sea level rise, the suffering ahead will make the misery index today look look very low.
David Lindsay Jr. is the author of "The Tay Son Rebellion, Historical Fiction of Eighteenth-century Vietnam," and blogs at TheTaySonRebellion.com and InconvenientNewsWorldwide.wordpress.com
13
I have to admit, Nicholas, that I don't have much hope that any of this will stop, or even lessen, until humanity evolved much further, and away from the tribal, "not one of us" mentality that still holds root across most societies (first, second, third, or any "world").
In some, the dehumanization of women, and of many others, is a religio-sociocultural imperative. In others, it is an economic imperative--competition from those outside the tribe is feared. But the common factor is looking upon some groups as less than human, which justifies all sorts of abuse towards them.
And I don't see a lot of support out there for recognizing everyone's common humanity--not when it's 'my and mine' well-being at stake.
15
It pains me to acknowledge that this happened in my motherland. Another case that happened around the same time is Unnao rape case, in which the culprit was a state lawmaker. The case was brought to light only after the victim tried to immolate herself in front of the Chief Minister's residence and her father died in police custody. I just cannot imagine the hopelessness that she would have suffered at the hands of the police system to take such a drastic step; and the egregious inefficiency and apathy of the legal system.
This particular take certainly took a communal turn, adding fuel to the already blazing fire of communal differences that divide India deeply. But in the veil of communal issue, is the sick mentality of people who try to justify their lust in the name of any excuse; in this particular case; religion. Whether the girl was Hindu or Muslim should be immaterial; she was a girl and she was raped and that's all that should matter.
There have been cries for stricter punishment for rape cases and in particular, juvenile rape cases. I am not sure if that would serve as a deterrent. It's the mentality that needs to change, not just the law.
59
"The U.S. could show leadership in addressing these issues."
How? The current US president is a known serial harrasser. The congress and senate are dominated by a majority that have scant regard womens' right to choose. So how exactly US is going to "show leadership" in this area?
I think US should start the charity at home - 1 in 4 college students in US are victims of sexual harrassment, how about taking steps to reduce that first?
60
How about doing both? We are the richest nation in the history of the world. We need to approach this the same way we figured out how to eradicate small pox, tuberculosis and malaria. Abuse of women and girls is a disease that needs to be eradicated.
13
While you correctly point out that in many countries women are living like in the Middle Ages and are completely without hope or anything to fall back on but I disagree with you re America.
Sexual harassment type behaviour has been outlawed since app. 1980 in this country.
I have seen, heard, read about countless stories of women suing and winning cases against men in these situations including my own corporation I worked in for 40 yrs. The situation drastically changed for the better for women.
With the exception of immigrant women or minimum wage women who are either ignorant of the law or in dire need of the job, the usual culprit in these types of incidences in the news are co depending or enabling the offender in some way, shape or form by all parties.
it could range from powerful men (and women ike Meryl Streep) who protect the offender at the top, to women who only report the incidence after the pay raises or promotions stop (or worse initiate the sexual contact), to extreme feminists who hate men but will protect predators higher up who support the women' movement(like Weinstein and Hillary) to yes, women who wait 30 yrs.(Anita Hill_) to report it, even though they know it is against the law as a lawyer.
While things like better defense funds, making agreements public can help, the bottom line, don't be an enabler or co dependent.
Predators live for them.
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I wish every American would read this, followed by discussion to overcome indifference and make change for all little girls, boys, women. How do we learn of this and go about our day. . .
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MLK has famously said, "“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
That can easily adapted to read, "Injustice to anyone is a threat to everyone."
And since rape is a violent form of injustice meted out to women, it must be treated as a crime against not just that individual, or women, but everyone.
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things are so much worse nearly everywhere else, the abuse of women, for example, is routine, a cultural imperative, if you will, that we here in the usa seem like children prone to tantrum over the slightest slight (the cultural history of the chinese dress makes the "cultural appropriation" issue moot) , the most common of challenges (the academy, created as a safe space for free inquiry, now needs "safe spaces" for those overwhelmed by the prospect of pursuit of free inquiry ), and any form of inconvenience (why read when shouting is so much easier?) all the while turning our backs on our own serious problems (see all the homeless, unwashed and starving, as you drive though hollywood on your way to dinner and a film).
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It was in the midst of The International Year of the Child in 1979, when visiting London to see my family, a guest at a small dinner party and I engaged in a ludicrous exchange about 'Female Circumcision', a practice which continues in certain countries. We went to bat over the correct sentence to use, and red is the color I was waving feebly.
Married to Marie Curie's daughter, UNICEF's Executive Director Henry Labouisse, with the support of the UN Secretary General, had decided to find a woman from a Third World Country to lead the Special Team. She was awarded the Peace Award, but her work continued.
Mr. Kristof might wish to take a look at 'One Woman's Liberating' by Nick Joaquin, where she takes us to over 64 countries in two years. She was not always helped by her male colleagues in this challenging endeavor, but we forged ahead regardless.
The possibility of renewing efforts to help Women and Children world-wide will need the caring and encouragement of All People across Civilized Nations.
The #Me Too is still fragmented. An international forum and declaration of 'The International Year of the Woman', to be held in Geneva, linking all Countries together, would be a beginning as we face the dawn in the early 21st Century.
We can try and not cry to make change here in our Homeland and beyond. Rumer Godden, a British resident abandoned by her husband in India during WWII with two toddlers, wrote later 'Time to Dance, No Time to Weep'.
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Heart-breaking, the hopeful face of the young girl in India treated so cruelly—her innocent spirit crushed, her life taken. Why is the US once again reducing aid that would help protect vulnerable girls and women? Why is help being blocked or limited and funding cut? So in humane and stupid.
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The problem is just being addressed in the US. There have been few institutional changes and most of the attention has been given to the rich and famous. Plus we have a child abuse epidemic on our hands. I’d say our money is better spent on trying to get traction here. There are private charities that can make a dent in the world problem. Ironically, the upscale don’t give as much charity as the middle class. You should stop crying and write a check.
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While not seeking to diminish the outrage decent people feel for the brutal realities that Nick documents, the truth remains that widespread gender suppression and sexual violence are merely two of many expressions of dysfunctional societies all over the world – even in ours, while those expressions are dramatically muted here compared to those of some other societies.
We can’t JUST solve sexual violence. To solve widespread and institutionalized gender suppression and sexual violence, the causal characteristics of societies that result in so many other expressions of their dysfunction as well, need to be addressed and resolved first. To focus merely on these is to suggest somehow that we treat the symptom and not the disease; and that we CAN. I’m sure that there aren’t enough policemen and soldiers in the world to do that. Certainly not enough honest policemen.
It’s a terrible recognition to some that all this horror is so deeply entrenched in societies that to be largely rid of it they must evolve into something very different from what they are today. It’s so terrible because it has real-world implications to girls and women living in those societies today. But when one comes to an understanding of the deeply layered reality that results in the horror, the recognition is inescapable.
If indeed it’s true that #MeToo is taking root in these societies, then that’s great; but it’s only the beginning, and our impact on the necessary evolution can only be indirect.
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If we solve sexulised violence we probably end up solving a lot of other things such as corruptions and other dysfunctions.
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There organizations help poor women in developing countries to gain human rights, dignity, contraception, education and economic freedom.
Make a small donation...or a big one, if you can.
The Global Fund for Women
https://act.globalfundforwomen.org/donate
United Nations Population Fund
https://www.unfpa.org/donate
Women for Women International
https://give.womenforwomen.org/donate/?src=DBWS181A
Women deserve support, not abuse.
Thank you for shining a light, Nicholas Kristof.
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I highly recommend Women to Women International. I have been sponsoring Women through this program for years. Thanks for giving them a shout out, Socrates, I was actually thinking of them while reading the comments. Thank you.
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Thank you Socrates
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Great article. Thank you Nicholas! Thanks also for including the Rohingya issue in your discussion.
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And yet look how many people in this country voted a misogynist into the White House. I don't expect anything from this president and the current GOP other than more assaults on women's rights.
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