Another Night in Bangkok: Pictures of Brutal Gang Rape Become Facebook Entertainment

Facebook is a place to connect with friends, keep people updated on events going on in your life, and share photos of happy memories. However, for a group of young people in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Facebook became a tool to share pictures of a brutal attack on a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly drugged and gang raped at a recent house party. According to the police investigating this case, the young woman “suffered significant injuries” from “an aggressive series of assaults involving between five and seven males that lasted 20 minutes.”

So far, only one arrest has been made in this case – that of a male young offender who allegedly took photos of the attack and posted them on Facebook. He now faces charges related to the production and distribution of child pornography. According to the RCMP, the gang rape occurred early last Saturday morning in a field outside of a house hosting a rave titled “Another Night in Bangkok." Superintendent Dave Walsh said that this was a private house party “attended by a large number of youth” in Pitt Meadows, 40 km east of Vancouver. Another article on this story stated that hundreds of young people and adults were at this party. It was not until Sunday that the police learned of the attack when someone came to them and reported that photos of the victim being raped had been posted on Facebook.

There are so many issues to address in this horrible story. First, the fact that this gang rape happened at all is heart-breaking. The thought of this young girl drugged, raped by seven young men, all alone after being separated from her friends, and unable to fight back due to the effects of the drugs are almost too much to comprehend. Added to the rapes themselves are the additional humiliation of being photographed while being attacked and then the pictures posted on the Internet for anyone to see and download. Further, there were comments posted on Facebook along with the photos that suggested the young woman was a willing participant. According to police, this is completely false: all the physical and medical evidence indicate that this is a case of a large number of men sexually assaulting one woman.

Can you even imagine being raped and then having to face the fact that people were downloading pictures of your pain and then posting insensitive and false comments? It is no wonder that Ridge Meadows RCMP Sgt. Jennifer Hyland, who is leading the investigation into the rapes, said that the young woman is not doing too well, especially in light of the additional burden of the widespread circulation of the photos that are “spreading like wildfire” on the Internet. The fact that these pictures are available to anyone has made it especially difficult for police to assist this young woman begin to overcome the effects of these rapes.

Police officers are “angry and disgusted” at the large number of people who are downloading and sharing graphic pictures of this brutal attack and they have pleaded with the public to stop. Hyland underscored the horror of this attack and the subsequent events in this case when she said, “I’ve been involved in investigating sexual assaults for many years. In that time, I’ve never experienced anything like what is occurring in this investigation...The very public discussion about this victim and the taking and subsequent sharing of photos depicting this rape is disgusting, morally corrupt and criminal.”

After the attack, the young woman required medical attention. At the same time as she was receiving this medical care, the pictures of the gang rape were being posted on Facebook; they were removed on Sunday after police were notified. However, despite their removal, “copies have been downloaded and have since gone into circulation.” The fact that these pictures continue to be viewed and shared is reprehensible. Since I could not find the words to express my outrage, I have included the sentiments of Sgt. Hyland:

“I want to be clear about this: What happened after this incident and continues to happen is beyond disgusting. Those photos are child pornography. They have been viewed, shared, saved and re-posted numerous times. This is an offence and is so socially corrupt it is sickening...The posting and viewing of photos is continuing to victimize the young girl and her family and needs to stop.”

Further, in addition to the horrific and long-term this attack has had and will continue to have on the young woman who was gang raped, other young people have been traumatized after they were shown pictures of the attack. According to police, they have received complaints from several parents whose children have come home crying and quite upset after they saw the pictures.

As mentioned above, only the photographer has been arrested at the time of this post; however, the police have stated they have leads on some of the other alleged rapists. Further, according to Const. Aaron Lloyd, the photos taken of the attack will help police identify and arrest some of the other participants in the rapes.

At this point, it is early in the investigation and police are still in the process of talking to everyone who attended the rave. However, this process has been hindered by the lack of cooperation from some. In light of their need for as much information as possible, police are urging anyone with information regarding this gang rape to come forward.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Ridge Meadows RCMP at 604-463-6241. Those who want to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Sources:

Andrea Woo, “Rave Gang-Rape Photos Put on Web, Police Say,” Vancouver Sun (September 16, 2010), http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Rave+gang+rape+photos+police/3533819/story.html (accessed September 16, 2010).

Gerry Bellett, Andrea Woo, and Tiffany Crawford, “Photos of Teen's Gang Rape Go Viral on Internet,” Vancouver Sun (September 17, 2010) http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Photos+teen+gang+rape+viral+Internet/3536756/story.html (accessed September 17, 2010).

Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In war, rape accomplishes a number of objectives. It spreads fear, humiliates, terrorizes civilians for political purposes, obtains information, rewards soldiers, and can eliminate ethnic groups.[1] During the past two decades alone, women were raped in Rwanda, Liberia, the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Sudan, Timor Leste, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).[2] War rape is not a new phenomenon, but war rape was “documented with increasing regularity in the 20th century”[3] and statistics indicate it is increasingly prevalent, due in part to the fact that “the nature of warfare is changing, in ways that increasingly endanger women and girls.”[4]

The use of rape as a weapon of war is as old as war itself. While war rape is not unique to any particular country, region, ethnic group, religion or time period, the level of sexual violence reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the past fifteen years is extreme. Though it is difficult to determine the exact number of women and girls who have been raped and mutilated by armed groups, soldiers, and other civilians during this conflict, most experts working in the region believe the number has reached the hundreds of thousands.

Statistics reveal a serious problem exists in the Congo. From 1998 to 2004, a coalition of members of the Congolese government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the UN, called the Joint Initiative on the Fight against Sexual Violence towards Women and Children, recorded over 40,000 reported cases of sexual violence.[5] This number is only a small percentage of actual cases, however, since many women do not report rape because they fear abandonment by their families, rejection by their communities, and reprisals by their attackers.[6] These factors in turn impact the gathering of accurate statistics.

No one has been able to quantify the scale of what human rights groups call the “war on women” in eastern Congo. Tens of thousands of rapes have been recorded by the UN in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu over the past year, but as only a fraction of the women assaulted make it to hospital there is little doubt that the total number of victims runs into hundreds of thousands in recent years.[7]

Despite the importance of gathering accurate data, statistics on the number of women impacted by sexual violence in conflicts around the world are difficult to collect. The chaos of conflict, the failure of humanitarian organizations to cooperate and coordinate, and the fear and shame surrounding sexual violence are factors contributing to the “great scarcity of data on the prevalence, circumstances, characteristics of perpetrators, and physical or mental health impacts” of sexual violence in conflict.[8] Even when faced with these obstacles, however, several national and international organizations collected statistics that highlight the severity, intensity, and prevalence of sexual violence in the DRC.

Working with Congolese human rights organizations, International Alert gathered statistics on the types of rape committed in this conflict through interviews with 492 survivors of sexual violence in different regions of the country. The organizations identified four main types of rape and concluded that “The rapes and sexual abuse were committed with unprecedented cruelty, the perpetrators having devised the most humiliating and degrading treatment they could inflict on their victims.”[9]

Individual rape was reported by 105 survivors (21.3%) and described as when a “single perpetrator rapes a single victim,” while 390 women (79%) reported they were raped by two or more attackers. A third form identified was family members forced to rape each other or to watch the attack on a family member, usually their mother or sister. The final category is rape where objects, such as sticks, bottles, bananas, pestles coated in chili pepper, and the butt of rifles are forcibly inserted into victims’ genitals; 61 women (12.4%) interviewed reported this.[10] Many women (71.7%) reported that they were tortured during or after the rape (especially if they resisted) and described being “beaten, wounded with machetes, or [having] their genitals mutilated or burnt with drops of plastic melted by a flame.”[11] These findings provide insight into the types of rape committed, while other organizations gathered data focusing specifically on the number of women and girls subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Congo.

Malteser International runs a medical-social support program for rape survivors in South Kivu. From 2005-2007 the organization registered 20,517 female rape survivors.[12] Since 2003, the International Rescue Committee has assisted more than 40,000 rape survivors in the country.[13] The number of survivors who came to Panzi Hospital in Bukavu to report rape and/or mutilation increased from 290 in 1999 to 1,289 in 2003.[14] According to data provided by local health centres, as of January 2007, an average of 40 women were raped daily in South Kivu; thirteen percent of these victims were younger than fourteen-years-old, three percent died as a result of the attack, and ten to twelve percent were infected with HIV/AIDS.[15] From January to September 2008, more than 3,500 cases were reported to the Joint Initiative on Sexual Violence in North Kivu.[16] At one hospital in Bunia, more than 7,400 rape victims were treated between 2003 and 2007.[17] According to Human Rights Watch, 16,000 rapes were reported in 2008 alone.[18]

These numbers indicate a serious problem, but they do not fully describe the extent of sexual violence in the DRC. Many survivors of sexual violence do not report the attacks due to fear of reprisal or ostracism, shame, and continued insecurity caused by ongoing violent conflict in the region.[19] Elisabeth Roesch, Gender and Advocacy Advisor for CARE in the DRC underscores this problem, “We know rape is typically under-reported, and feel that this number doesn’t even come close to reflecting the actual number of cases – the actual number is unimaginable.”[20] This sentiment was corroborated in a 2004 report from USAID:

It can be estimated, however, that based on the statistics presented by the two referral hospitals, a minimum tens of thousands of rapes and/or mutilations have taken place since 1996, and untold thousands more back to 1994.[21]

It is important to determine the reasons why rape is such a prevalent, severe, and effective weapon of war in the Congo. According to academic journal articles and reports from human rights organizations and governments, as well as interviews with survivors, humanitarian workers, doctors, and soldiers, sexual violence is used as a systemic and strategic weapon in the DRC because of its effectiveness in accomplishing economic and military goals, the Congo’s hostile political environment, perpetrators’ impunity, the large number of actors in the on-going conflict, and the many physical, psychological, and social consequences associated with rape that benefit perpetrators. Future posts will examine all of these factors in detail in order to better understand the causes and consequences of the widespread use of sexual violence that has been used as a weapon in the DRC for the past 15 years.

Sources:

[1] Amnesty International USA, “Stop Violence against Women: Rape as a Tool of War: A Fact Sheet,” Amnesty International USA (2007), http://www.amnestyusa.org/women/rapeinwartime.html (accessed January 26, 2010).
[2] Jeanne Ward, “Broken Bodies-Broken Dreams: Violence against Women Exposed,” OCHA/IRIN (November 2005): 177-189.
[3] Patricia Weitsman, “The Politics of Identity and Sexual Violence: A Review of Bosnia and Rwanda,” Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association (2007): 3.
[4] Jeanne Ward, “Broken Bodies-Broken Dreams: Violence against Women Exposed,” OCHA/IRIN (November 2005): 177.
[5] Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, “Struggling to Survive: Children in Armed Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (April 2006), http://www.watchlist.org/reports/files/dr_congo.report.20060426.php?p=11 (accessed January 17, 2010).
[6] CARE International, “Tens of Thousands More Women and Girls at Risk of Rape and Attack in DRC, Warns CARE,” CARE International (November 6, 2008), http://www.care-international.org/Tens-of-thousands-more-women-and-girls-at-risk-of-rape-and-attack-in-DRC-warns-CARE (accessed May 20, 2009).
[7] Chris McGreal, “Hundreds of Thousands of Women Raped for Being on the Wrong Side,” The Guardian (November 12, 2007), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/12/congo.international (accessed January 19, 2010). AND Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, “Struggling to Survive: Children in Armed Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (April 2006), http://www.watchlist.org/reports/files/dr_congo.report.20060426.php?p=11 (accessed January 17, 2010).
[8] Birthe Steiner, Marie T. Benner, Egbert Sondorp, K. Peter Schmitz, Ursula Mesmer and Sandrine Rosenberger, “Sexual Violence in the Protracted Conflict of DRC: Programming for Rape Survivors in South Kivu,” Conflict and Health vol. 3 (2009): 3.
[9] International Alert, “Women’s Bodies as a Battleground: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls During the War in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Réseau des Femmes pour un Développement Associatif (RFDA), Réseau des Femmes pour la Défense des Droits et la Paix (RFDP), International Alert (2004) : 33.
[10] Ibid., 33-34.
[11] Ibid., 34-35.
[12] Birthe Steiner, Marie T Benner, Egbert Sondorp, K Peter Schmitz, Ursula Mesmer and Sandrine Rosenberger, “Sexual Violence in the Protracted Conflict of DRC: Programming for Rape Survivors in South Kivu,” Conflict and Health vol. 3 (2009): 3.
[13] Wairagala Wakabi, “Sexual Violence Increasing in Democratic Republic of Congo,” The Lancet vol. 371 no. 9606 (January 2008): 15.
[14] Marion Pratt, Ph.D. and Leah Werchick, J.D. with Anaia Bewa, Marie-Louise Eagleton, Claudine Lumumba, Katherine Nichols, and Lina Piripiri, “Sexual Terrorism: Rape as a Weapon of War in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” USAID/DCHA Assessment Report (March 18, 2004): 11.
[15] Claudia Rodriguez, “Sexual Violence: Weapon of War, Impediment to Peace,” Forced Migration issue 27 (January 2007): 45-46.
[16] CARE International, “Tens of Thousands More Women and Girls at Risk of Rape and Attack in DRC, Warns CARE,” CARE International (November 6, 2008), http://www.care-international.org/Tens-of-thousands-more-women-and-girls-at-risk-of-rape-and-attack-in-DRC-warns-CARE (accessed May 20, 2009).
[17] Wairagala Wakabi, “Sexual Violence Increasing in Democratic Republic of Congo,” The Lancet vol. 371 no. 9606 (January 2008): 15.
[18] Human Rights Watch, “Stopping Rape as a Weapon of War in Congo,” Human Rights Watch (September 18, 2009), http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/09/18/stopping-rape-weapon-war-congo (accessed January 5, 2010).
[19] CARE International, “Tens of Thousands More Women and Girls at Risk of Rape and Attack in DRC, Warns CARE,” CARE International (November 6, 2008), http://www.care-international.org/Tens-of-thousands-more-women-and-girls-at-risk-of-rape-and-attack-in-DRC-warns-CARE (accessed May 20, 2009).
[20] Ibid.
[21] Marion Pratt, Ph.D. and Leah Werchick, J.D. with Anaia Bewa, Marie-Louise Eagleton, Claudine Lumumba, Katherine Nichols, and Lina Piripiri, “Sexual Terrorism: Rape as a Weapon of War in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” USAID/DCHA Assessment Report (March 18, 2004): 11.

Gang Rape: A Growing Concern

What causes two or more men to join forces for the purpose of raping a woman or child? Is it a desire for power and control? Sexual satisfaction? The desire to humiliate or degrade “something” they don’t even consider human?

This is a question that scholars have struggled with and I have no desire to come up with a definitive answer here. However, it is imperative that we discuss this topic, even though it is extremely sensitive, because more and more women throughout the world are experiencing this form of violence and it must stop.

Similar to other forms of rape, gang rape often causes survivors to feel humiliation, ridicule, worthlessness, and a sense of powerlessness. Further, even though relatively few cases of gang rape are reported, many women and girls throughout the world have experienced this horror. And while some view this sort of horrific sexual violence as something that happens in “other” countries or only during armed conflicts, two recent North American cases indicate that this is clearly not always the case.

On May 30, 2010, a young girl hanged herself in her family’s garage in Winnipeg. Hours earlier, Pauline Berens, 15, told her boyfriend that she and two of her friends (age 13 and 14) had been raped the week before by three older boys. Since Pauline’s tragic death, Winnipeg police have begun investigating the allegations of sexual assault, however, there is fear that the case may never be solved because other alleged victims have not come forward and there is little information for police to go on. According to the limited information that has come forward, Pauline and her friends had been drinking vodka and listening to music with three older boys, aged 17 and 18. When they woke up 10 hours later, naked, they were allegedly told that they had been “gangbanged.” As in many other cases of sexual assault, Pauline encouraged her friends to stay silent about what had happened due to fears that they would get reputations as “little sluts.” It was only after Pauline died that information about the alleged gang rape began to surface.

The fact that many women and girls do not report cases of sexual assault lends credence to the idea that a “rape mythology” exists in our society. In other words, many people believe that women and girls can avoid being raped or sexually assaulted if they only avoid parties with alcohol, dress conservatively, travel in groups, and avoid being outside after dark. With these beliefs, many women internalize the implicit message that sexual assault is something they can control and that if they are raped then they did something to deserve it. These beliefs in turn create feelings of shame that inhibit many women and girls from coming forward and reporting what has happened to them. Further, this mythology also has an affect on males, some of whom may justify their actions and make excuses, believing the phrase that “boys will be boys” or the popular “no just means more beer.” Unfortunately, with this double standard, men who assault women are often relieved of their personal responsibility while survivors are forced to protect themselves from unwanted advances and then blamed if they are unable to do so. This type of behaviour and way of thinking are completely unacceptable. Boys must be taught at a young age that women and girls deserve to be treated with dignity and they must also be taught about boundaries, communication, and how to respect their date’s wishes, no matter what. We must continue to stress that no actually does mean no.


Two men and three male teenagers charged with gang-raping a seven-year-old girl
On March 28, 2010, a crime was reported that shocked inhabitants of Trenton, New Jersey. A 15-year-old girl allegedly sold her seven-year-old stepsister during a party at an apartment building known to police for being the site of numerous crimes. Through cooperation from the community, police were able to arrest and charge two men and three teenaged boys with the gang-rape of this little girl. Gregory Joseph Leary, 20, and Timear Lewis, 19, were arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment. The boys, aged 13, 14, 17, could not be named due to their ages; however, they face the same changes. Mercer County Prosecutor announced that prosecutors would likely request the courts try all five as adults.

How could something like this happen? According to the police, the 15-year-old girl went to a party with some men at the apartment building and her younger sister came along. The older girl allegedly sold sex to men and boys at the party. She then allegedly took money to let them touch her stepsister. The touching then turned more violent and at least seven men allegedly raped the seven-year-old. For her actions, the 15-year-old has been charged with promoting prostitution, aggravated sexual assault, and other crimes. After her arrest, she was placed in juvenile detention.

According to Mayor Doug Palmer, the family received counselling in the aftermath of the attack. However, he also stressed that the police would not stop investigating until every person involved in the rape was arrested. Further, the mayor said the family may be permanently relocated away from the city. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the crime, as well as the reputation for crime and violence that the neighbourhood holds, it has been difficult for police to convince people to come forward and report everything that they know. Many neighbours fear retaliation from gangs in the area.

It is my fervent hope that the men convicted of gang-raping this little girl are punished to the fullest extent of the law. A message must be sent that anyone who sexually abuses woman or a child will go to prison for a very long time. There is absolutely no mitigating factor that could justify the actions of these men and boys. The fact that we live in a world where seven-year-old girls are considered objects of sexual pleasure, at the violent expense of their victim, should alarm everyone. But our response can not stop at simple shock and outrage. We must pressure our governments to ensure that sexual violence is a crime severely punished instead of ignored and minimized. We must advocate for adequate funding for women and children in violent situations. Finally, we must begin an open and honest dialogue about an uncomfortable topic that has remained in the shadows for far too long.

Sources:

“Gang Rape.” Pandora’s Project (2007). http://www.pandys.org/articles/gangrape.html (accessed July 23, 2010).

Tobi Cohen. “Experts not surprised alleged gang-rape victims not coming forward.” Postmedia News (July 19, 2010).
http://www.canada.com/news/Experts+surprised+alleged+gang+rape+victims+coming+forward/3297336/story.html (accessed July 23, 2010).

Angela Delli Santi and Beth DeFalco. “Five charged in gang-rape of 7-year-old girl in New Jersey.” The Associated Press (April 3, 2010). http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/five-charged-in-gang-rape-of-7-year-old-girl-in-new-jersey/article1522246/ (accessed July 23, 2010).