Jezebel: Congo

A Convenient List of Lady-Friendly Charities

Erin Gloria Ryan — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 15:50:00 EST

Are you generous? Rich? Both?! Boy, do I have something to show you! More »

In Congo, Sexual Assault Spreads From Army To Civilians

Anna North — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:40:00 EDT

Armed conflict among Congolese, Rwandan, and Ugandan militias has spawned an epidemic of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and perhaps most disturbingly, civilians too have begun to assault one another at higher and higher rates. More »

Sexual Assault In Congo: Activists Speak Out

Katy Kelleher — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:20:00 EDT

Lisa Shannon became an activist in Africa after watching a moving episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Alice Walker has played a key part in the feminist movement for years. Recently, they shared their thoughts on rape in the Congo. More »

'Beast' Of Burden: Congo's Survivors "Must Understand They Have The Right To Live"

Megan Carpentier — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST

Early this morning, Christiane Amanpour hosted Dr. Denis Mukwege, Annie Rashidi-Mulumba and Leymah Gbowee at The Daily Beast's Women in the World conference for a difficult discussion on rape as a weapon of war, and what to do about it. More »

Is It Wrong To Name Rape Victims In The Congo?

Irin Carmon — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has invited his readers to weigh in whether he should have named a nine-year-old Congolese rape victim who was also featured in a video. The ensuing Facebook debate is surprisingly thoughtful. More »

Tan Dudes Are More "Manly"? • Abstinence Programs Work?

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:20:00 EST

• This explains so much: researchers have found that sunbathing gives the male libido a boost - mainly by upping their testosterone. Just an hour of sunlight can provide a 69% jump in testosterone levels. • More »

Gentlemen Of Bacongo: The Dandies Of Sub-Saharan Africa

Jenna Sauers — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:40:00 EST

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A new photo book by Daniele Tamagni explores the phenomenon of sapeurs, a clique of extraordinarily dressed dandies from the Congo. In the midst of war and abject poverty, these men dress in tailored suits, silk ties, and immaculate footwear. More »

Afghanistan Allows Men to Deny Wives Food For Refusing Sexual Demands • Europe's Peewee Boyz Storm Cheerleading

LatoyaPeterson — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:30:00 EDT

In addition to the "no fuck, no food" rule, the new laws in Afghanistan take away a woman's right to be the guardian of her children and allow rapists to avoid persecution by paying "blood money" for the crime. [Guardian]

The Eyes Have It

Anna Holmes — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:10:00 EDT

[Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo; August 11. Image via Getty]

What's More Important: Rape In Congo Or Hillary's Bad Hair Day?

Anna North — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:30:00 EDT

At first the media said Hillary Clinton's visit to Africa was overshadowed by her husband's trip to North Korea. Now the work she's trying to do — including stopping rape in Congo — is overshadowed by coverage of that overshadowing. More »

Our Undivided Attention

Anna Holmes — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:10:00 EDT

[Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 11. Image via Getty]

Precious Cargo

Anna Holmes — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:10:00 EDT

[Goma, Congo; August 10. Image via Getty]

"My Husband Is Not Secretary Of State, I Am"

Sadie Stein — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EDT

The fact that an audience member reportedly asked Hillary Clinton "what her husband thought" about a matter of policy in a Congolese town hall meeting today hints at some of the underlying issues Clinton was there to address: More »

The Faces Of Congo's Women

Megan Carpentier — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EDT

Hillary Clinton will visit the Democratic Republic of Congo next week to focus attention (and hopefully resources) on the ongoing scourge of rape. And so it seems a good time to focus on some of the victims of that scourge. More »

War Crimes Against Women, Men, Continue Unabated Abroad

Megan Carpentier — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:20:00 EDT

This week, as Hillary Clinton visits no fewer than six African nations, American media outlets are running a spate of stories about the ongoing problem of sexual assault as a weapon of war in one of those countries: Congo. More »

Italian Wedding Ends In Disaster • Women With Migraines Less Likely To Get Breast Cancer

Katy Kelleher — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:20:00 EDT

• In an attempt to make the odious tradition of throwing the bouquet a little different, an Italian bride had her flowers flung from a plane. Unfortunately, they got sucked into the plane's engines, causing it to crash. • More »

Angelina Jolie: Going Dutch

Anna Holmes — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:10:00 EDT

[The Hague, Netherlands; May 19. Image via AP]

Eve Ensler On Fighting Rape In The Congo

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:30:00 EDT

"Because women are at the center of this horror, they must be at the center of the solutions and peace negotiations. Women are the future of Congo. They are its greatest resource." [CNN] More »

Madonna To Marry Jesus?

Dodai Stewart — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:00:00 EDT

Madonna and Jesus Luz are reportedly planning a "commitment ceremony" in front of a rabbi at the Kabbalah Center in New York. Oooh, and a source says:

In The Congo, A Bit Of Whimsy That Can't Be Contained

Megan Carpentier — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:45:00 EDT

Photographer Finnbar O'Reilly captures a lighter side of the women of the Congo, where the style (when it comes to hair) is go big, or go home. His beautiful video is after the jump. More »

Eve Ensler's New Monologue Will Take Your Breath Away

Megan Carpentier — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:20:00 EST

I cried watching Eve Ensler performing her new piece, A Teenage Girl's Guide To Surviving Sex Slavery. She ends it, "No one can take anything from you if you do not give it to them." More »

Eve Ensler: "Rape Is A Very Cheap Method Of Warfare"

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:40:00 EST

Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested in Rwanda on Friday. Nkunda has been accused of encouraging soldiers under his command to use rape as a widespread war strategy. More »

Loose Lips

Jessica G. — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:40:00 EST

Alec Baldwin on his 30 Rock lip-lock with Jennifer Aniston: "It was the greatest day of my life." He's J/K, people, but Baldwin adds, "Whenever you do that with someone, it's so fake. They're getting paid to kiss you and I'm getting paid to kiss her. But she's a doll." • 50 Cent filed suit against Taco Bell because they made him look like a chump, or, in legalese, "burnished his gangsta rapper persona by distorting beyond all recognition a bona fide, good faith offer." According to the AP, "The squabble is over a fake letter sent out by Taco Bell Corp. asking 50 Cent to change his name for one day to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent to help publicize its value menu." • Ben Affleck is currently in Congo trying to raise awareness about the war-torn country's plight. "I thought a lot of people are advocating on Darfur. I'd just be a very small log on a big fire. I started getting interested in Congo and I thought, this is a place where I can have a really big impact," he says. More »

Ashley Judd Is Not Just Another Tinseltown Disaster Tourist

Dodai Stewart — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Newsweek writer Christopher Dickey recently interviewed Ashley Judd, who visited eastern Congo about six months ago with Population Services International, and witnessed the tens of thousands of refugees there. "Goma," says Judd, "is a shithole." Writes Dickey, "the description is perfectly accurate." There are no paved roads, there are giant potholes, there's rubble and dust, and there was a volcanic eruption not that long ago. More »

Remember Dr. Denis Mukwege, the doctor who...

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:40:00 EDT

Remember Dr. Denis Mukwege, the doctor who has helped perform reconstructive surgery on more than 21,000 raped Congolese women since 1998? Even though there is no sign the epidemic will stop, his hospital is losing a significant source of funding: The European Community is cutting its annual grant because officially the Congo is no longer a conflict zone. Mukwege has no plans to stop his work, but he says he is discouraged because he doesn't see an end to the violence. "It is always a joy when you treat someone and they get well, and you see them, for the first time, smile again," says Mukwege. "But then I start seeing women I treated in 2003, and I ask myself, why should I continue with this work?" [The Christian Science Monitor] More »

The New York Times Decides Not To Forget About Congo

Megan Carpentier — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EDT

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Jeffrey Gettleman, whose work for the New York Times about the rape epidemic in Congo we've covered before, went back again this year armed with a video camera and some of the empathy the country needs. His piece today also manages to find a small bit of hope in the ability of women to finally tell their stories. More »

Ivory Towers

Sadie Stein — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:50:00 EDT

In the past year, poachers in Congo have killed a fifth of the Savannah elephants in Virguna National Park. In the past ten days alone, Rwandan rebels have killed seven of the elephants in Virunga, along Congo's eastern border with Rwanda and Uganda."We've definitely lost 20 percent of the population this year and probably more," said a park ranger. "We have rangers with them, and we're trying to reinforce them. But (the rangers) are outnumbered 20 to one." Conservationists believe that today only 300 elephants remain in what was once the world's largest population of Savannahs. A large part of the problem is a growing demand for ivory in China, which last month was granted permission by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species "to buy 108 tons of ivory stocks from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe," allowing poachers to sell the stolen ivory on the legitimate market. [Reuters] More »

Florida Outlaws Truck Nuts? • Congo Arrests Cock Snatchers

maria — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EDT

• Being a tool just got harder: Florida may fine drivers with truck nuts. • EHarmony ditches one-night stand advice after super-prudes protest. • Pervy dude peeps on roommate using teddy bear camera. • Superstitious Congolese police arrest suspected "penis snatchers"; men must find new excuse for small dicks. • Pasha Grishuk, a former Olympic figure skater, was slipped GHB in hotel bar. • Is schoolyard sexual harassment is more harmful than bullying? • Yet another teenage girl commits suicide after being bullied. • Domestic violence is associated with chronic malnutrition in India. • Indian-Americans use email to get to know future spouses in arranged marriages. • Duh: TMZ uses exciting headlines to get hits on banal videos. • Earth Day = Forced Abortion and Sterilization Day? • Women nurse pain after a break-up by selling jewelry from ex-boyfriends for cash. • Fliering an ex's town accusing her of giving you herpes is a-ok in Florida, as long as the allegations are true. More »

"They Said If My Parents Didn't Give Them Money They Would Rape Me"

Anna Holmes — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

It was difficult to decide what to clip from last night's television premiere of the film The Greatest Silence, which documents the years-long epidemic of rape in the Congo. There were the dozens of adult victims...the rapists themselves...and of course, filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson, who, according to at least one female critic, shouldn't have inserted her own experiences into her cinematic story. (Whatever, lady.) In the end, we decided to focus on the following: Maj. Honorine Mungole, a one-woman SVU unit who investigates the despicable crimes; 12-year-old Safi — who was raped last year after soldiers entered her home to loot it; and Mathilde, 4, a large-eyed moppet who was assaulted by a man in her village. (A full HBO screening schedule for the film can be found here.) More »

Critics Find The Greatest Silence "Chilling" But "Frustrating"

Jessica G. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

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In 2006, filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson went to the war-torn Congo on her own nickel to make a documentary about rape in the republic formerly known as Zaire. Her film, The Greatest Silence, which premieres tonight on HBO at 10pm, includes interviews with some of the estimated 250,000 women and girls who have been raped by soldiers over the past decade — as well as some of the rapists themselves — and the picture she paints is beyond grim. (Many women have been raped and injured to the point of lifelong incontinence, their vaginas rammed with sticks and other weapons until their uteri rupture). And though Jackson's personal history also plays a role in the film — she was raped by three men in 1976 — some reviewers find the inclusion of her own tragedy an intrustion. "She is motivated not simply by her reportorial instincts," notes NY Times reviewer Ginia Bellafante, "but also by her unfortunate wish to relate." More critical assessments of The Greatest Silence, after the jump. More »

"Here At The Hospital, We've Seen Women Who Have Stopped Living"

Anna Holmes — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST

Kate Moss: Not-So-Super Role Model To Schoolgirls

Jessica G. — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:00:00 EST

Is Kate Moss sending a bad message to Britain's schoolgirls? Some teachers think that England's failure to prosecute Kate for her documented cocaine use in 2005 undermined the country's anti-drug efforts. "Teenagers need to see people who have broken the law suffer the consequences,' said Pat Langham, president of the Girls' Schools Association. [Daily Mail]

Short Men More Likely To, Uh, Cruise For Little Boys

amparry — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:30:00 EDT

Short men are more likely to be pedophiles, according to a new Canadian study. Maybe they're just looking for someone their own size? Kidding. [NEWS.com.au]

In Congo, They Rape Three-Year-Olds

Moe — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:00:59 EDT

A gruesome new kind of rape is gaining popularity in Congo, and no one knows exactly why.

Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.

The latest suspects are a dreadlocked band of shiny tracksuit-wearing Laker fans called the Rastas. And yeah, we'd say it kind of gives us an appreciation for "rapists" like Kobe Bryant, but honestly, these rapes are so horrific it gives us an appreciation for, like, your run-of-the-mill pedophile, or that child pornographer in that one episode of SVU. Most of those guys, at least, work their "craft" with some acknowledgment that their victim is not, like, a beer bottle whose label you tear off and ball up before smashing the bottle into a million little pieces just because you're bored but an actual human. More »

As Always, Oprah Winfrey Is Ruining It For The Rest Of Us

Anna Holmes — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:00:06 EDT

Women between the ages of 50 and 70 are about to become the richest demographic in the United States, claims writer Marti Barletta. We'd see this as cause for celebration except that the inclusion of Oprah Winfrey probably skewed things a bit! [AdAge]