What can we do to help change the world?

[semiotic_pirate]

I just read the following article and developed both a headache and a twisty-knotted stomach as a result. It horrifies me that situations like this are prevelent in the world. I realize that we in America still have many problems regarding rape; reporting it, getting anything done about it, actually getting convictions, etc. But, yet again, I

Comments

[tashmania]

The whole article made me want to cry. I have very little time for Musharraf as it is, and things like this just show just how much further we have to go.

Under Pakistan's hudood laws, a woman who reports that she has been raped is liable to be arrested for adultery or fornication - since she admits to sex outside of marriage - unless she can provide four male eyewitnesses to the rape. Dr. Shazia wasn't sure she dared to report the crime, but she begged for permission to contact her family. So, she says, officials drugged her into a stupor and then confined her in a psychiatric hospital in Karachi.

This was the part that stopped me dead and made me stare at the screen in disgust.

[semiotic_pirate]

yeah, for me too - in addition to the part about the GYN who tells her victim/patients to stay away from the police because they'll rape them too. GAH!

[2littlewings]

Each story like this breaks my heart. And I feel so impotent--this fire to help but not knowing where or how to start.
I wish that articles like this ended with suggestions & resources to help somehow.
Otherwise, they're just being presented for dramatic 'entertainment'
Because let's face it...Americans (and other Western countries? I don't know. I can't speak to that) love a good sob story. And that's all it is to most people. They read something like this, are shocked and saddened, and they go on with their day. The vast majority won't take it to the next step and seek out some way to help.

I think responsible reporting should include contact information for aid organizations and other ways to help with this.