The XX Factor: What women really think.

"My Husband is Not Secretary of State, I Am."

At an event on Monday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a young man asked Hillary Clinton what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a potential loan from China to the financially strapped country. She paused, amazed, and replied: "You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not secretary of state, I am. If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband.''

My first thought upon seeing the clip of the exchange was, of course, good for you, Mrs. Clinton. But my second thought was: that poor guy ... (Read more in Double X.)

Congo: Condition Critical

Not long ago, I was contacted by a representative from Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, who pointed me to Condition: Critical, an online project that seeks to give voice to victims of violence in Congo. I've written about the situation in Congo here previously; New York Times East Africa bureau chief Jeffrey Gettleman has done an amazing job of chronicling the atrocities and their aftermath in a civil war-torn country where rape is used as a war tactic. "According to the United Nations," Gettleman reported, "27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country."

Condition: Critical looks to bridge the gap between Congo and the outside world with testimonies, videos, and photographs focusing on Congolese women who are victims of sexual violence, who emerge from the jungle after being kidnapped, raped, and enslaved by soldiers, who in some cases are unable to speak. Gettleman: "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."

A 45-year-old widow called "L." was raped by two armed men, an attack that left her pregnant, suicidal, and an outcast.

L. gave birth to her child today. Her mother was at the hospital for the delivery. But her father in-law refused to visit her. “The family has rejected me,” explains L. “I cannot live with them anymore. A neighbour has taken me in, and that’s where I stay now. I still need support. I have been stigmatised and rejected by my family, by some of my children and by my community. 'A widow who gives birth at her age, it’s shameful,' that’s what they say about me."

"My two elder sons have been with the military service for a long time. Another one lives in the street and when he heard that I was pregnant, he sent death threats to the baby and me. He said that he would kill both of us if I gave birth to a boy who could claim fields for himself later on.”

Today, L. holds a little girl in her arms. She is breastfeeding her. “This child has no problems. I must accept her, welcome her and take care of her. My daughter is innocent and today I look at her as a mother. We must stick together. I’ll go back to my village soon. I’ll continue to stay with my neighbour. I’ll have to carry goods for people to earn a bit of money because my family-in-law won’t let me work in the fields any longer."

"I would like to have my own house one day, from where no one can drive my daughter and I.”

[Condition: Critical]

Rape In Congo, A Year Later: Change?

Every woman should read New York Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman's latest missive on the rape-as-war-tactic epidemic in Congo: "Rape Victims' Words Help Congo Into Change." A year ago, Gettleman exposed the horrors happening in Bukavu, Congo, where thousands of women were being brutally raped as a consequence of the country's ongoing internal strife. In 2006, according to the UN, some 26,000 women were victims of sexual assaults in South Kivu Province alone. As a Congolese gynecologist stated, the savage attacks, which sometimes involve bayonets and piece of wood, resulting in the destruction of victims' reproductive and digestive systems, are "done to destroy women."

Since, the UN has declared such grand scale acts of sexual violence "a tactic of war." Now, Gettleman returns with another report from the frontlines. "Congo, it seems, is finally facing its horrific rape problem," he writes, "which United Nations officials have called the worst sexual violence in the world." Today, due to international attention, outside aid, and local efforts, a "culture of impunity" is breaking down, ending the silence when it comes to rape. More arrests of perpetrators are taking place than ever before, but, Gettleman is quick to point out, the number of those charged remains relatively small, particularly in a culture "where women tend to be beaten down anyway." 

In makeshift forums, women are telling their stories. "'There was no dinner,'" one woman's tale begins. "It was me who was dinner." In the audience, several women wore T-shirts that read in Kiswahili: "I refuse to be raped. What about you?" Eve Ensler, best known for having written "The Vagina Monolgues," is seeking to put an end to the worst rape problem in the world. Ensler deems the phenomenon "femicide": "'I have spent the past 10 years of my life in the rape mines of the world,' she said. 'But I have never seen anything like this.'" The playwright is helping to open a center at the heart of the problem that will provide counseling and support to thousands of rape victims. If you want to learn more, you can read about the project or donate here.