Sexual violence in the Congo

Posted by Lance Gravlee on December 3, 2008 
Filed Under Class discussion

In class today, we viewed the first 30 minutes of The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, a 76-minute documentary that debuted earlier this year. See my blog post from last semester for links to more information about the film and the filmmaker, Lisa Jackson.

As I noted in class, this film is important because it pulls together several themes of the course and connects us in a personal way to the suffering of rape victims in the DRC. It also draws attention to the ongoing conflict in the DRC, which has only begun to catch the attention of the mainstream media in the U.S. during the last few weeks.

I invite you to share your thoughts on the excerpt of the film we viewed today. How did you react to the stories of the men and women featured in the film? What differences and similarities did you observe between the people in the film and the filmmaker or other victims of sexual violence in the U.S.? What responsibility, if any, do you feel for the situation in the DRC? Do you think about your cell phone differently now? Do you think most Americans know enough about the war in the Congo or its causes and consequences? How does the film relate to our earlier discussion of structural violence and global health? Other thoughts?

Comments

2 Responses to “Sexual violence in the Congo”

  1. Kathryn on December 3rd, 2008 3:55 pm

    This was an extremely powerful video. My friends and I were just gasping and horrified at some of the things that were said in the video.

    I noticed that everyone interviewed kept calling the genitals the “sexes” and never once said the real biological names. This is different from the US.

    I personally didn’t know that this was that big of a problem. I also didn’t realize the war was still strong. I knew that in the past it plagued Africa, but had no idea that it was still a pressing issue. I think that Americans (and probably other industrialized countries) need more information to be made readily available to them about such topics. I realize that it is hard to get such information, but we should work on it. We have problems on the home front right now (for example the economy), that probably makes some citizens not care as much for issues outside our own borders.

    In all, this video really opened my eyes, and I feel like we should all play a bigger role in this besides just buying products like jewelry, cell phones, and computers.

  2. Fay on December 3rd, 2008 10:38 pm

    Cannibal Holocaust is a film classic that deals with rape in the amazon among other topics, but from more of a movie perspective than the straight up documentary style we saw in class. It is on the graphic side, so anyone who was remotely disturbed by the film in class should be wary.

    Salo (The 120 Days of Sodom) is another film classic that has recently become available in the US. It also deals with rape, but is set in 1944 fascist Italy. It focuses on how sex can be used as a form of degradation. It is extremely graphic and controversial (hence it not being sold in the US until recently), but if you have the stomach for it, it will give you a whole new outlook on the relationship between sex, free-will, and the assertion of power.

    Also, unrelated to rape, there is a quirky and weird series of short films also from the Sundance Film Festival about some random sexual behaviors of various insects. You can watch them for free at http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/

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