Liberia

Today's presentation was definitely eye-opening. There are plenty of things that we hear about in the U.S. and think oh yeah that it so unfortunate but it is another thing entirely to hear first-hand accounts. It's analogous to soldiers dropping bombs miles out of view of the devastation; it is easy to dismiss something that you cannot see. It is also easy to avoid the feelings that accompany seeing these horrible things. No one wants to ruin their day or upset themselves by researching such topics so when people finally do, they are shocked by what they find. These issues cannot continue to be swept under the rug. On the other hand, how do we go about helping these people? These countries? As a people, we have not been very skilled at changing the ways of other communities (Native Americans, Missionaries who tried to convert). So before we go to these nations trying to "help" them, we need to evaluate what exactly needs changed. Obviously the treatment of women needs to be bettered but how can this happen? If the war issues are solved will this help women? The video made it seem like women were liberated after the fighting stopped (or at least slightly). So does that mean that this is a case of war-specific rape and sexual harassment? Or is it a problem regardless? If it is a problem regardless then something needs to be done to get at the core of sexual harassment; power! Hopefully, this question can be answered and Liberia and countries with similar issues can move forward to reconstruct the power balance and eliminate rape altogether.