Rape.  Just reading or hearing the word elicits a slew of intense emotional responses.  It is a vile act, second to murder on the list of behaviors that most humans view as wholly immoral.  So, imagine what getting raped must be like if just the sound or sight of the word has such a heavy impact on the psyche.  In the Congo, and other parts of war-torn Africa, rape is a widely-used weapon just like the black market AK-47s and child soldiers.  And now, women are no longer the only targets.

A New York Times article recently reported on the spike in man-on-man rapes taking place in the Congo.  For as long as there’s been conflict in the Congo, there has been rape as a means of intimidation.  Soldiers would rape women in front of their husbands in order to prevent any further resistance.  But now it seems the men have become the targets, and similar to prison rape, the aim to is to dominate and to send a clear message of who is in charge.

As the article notes, getting raped is something that lingers.  Congolese men who were victims are often exiled or looked down upon by others in their community.  The following excerpt from the article illustrates this sad reality:

The same is true for Tupapo Mukuli, who said he was pinned down on his stomach and gang-raped in his cassava patch seven months ago. Mr. Mukuli is now the lone man in the rape ward at Panzi hospital, which is filled with hundreds of women recovering from rape-related injuries. Many knit clothes and weave baskets to make a little money while their bodies heal.

But Mr. Mukuli is left out.

“I don’t know how to make baskets,” he said. So he spends his days sitting on a bench, by himself.

The male rape cases are still just a fraction of those against women. But for the men involved, aid workers say, it is even harder to bounce back.

“Men’s identity is so connected to power and control,” Ms. Walker said.

And in a place where homosexuality is so taboo, the rapes carry an extra dose of shame.

“I’m laughed at,” Mr. Mukuli said. “The people in my village say: ‘You’re no longer a man. Those men in the bush made you their wife.’ ”

More Info: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/world/africa/05congo.html?_r=2&hp