Graphic from Women Under Siege: http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/blog/entry/what-can-we-do-to-end-rape-in-2013

When I got annoyed with the fact that sexualized violence is a stigmatized and sensitive subject in the Mennonite Church, I began this blog. When Gloria Steinem learned that rape was a widely used and unspoken method of torture, and a result of the Holocaust, she dreamed up WMC’s Women Under Siege with Lauren Wolfe. When Laura Bates realized how many women face sexism on a day-to-day basis, she created Everyday Sexism.

Recently there have been protests in India due to a 23-year-old woman being brutally gang-raped in Delhi. She died on December 29th due to horrific internal damage to her intestines. The outcry was impressive, with joining voices from all sides of the country. It took that horrific event to spark enough protest to make a country listen.

But what will it take to get the world so riled up that everyone will put their foot down to rape and sexualized violence against women everywhere? What kind of horrific catastrophe must the church endure to finally realize how they widely alienate and re-victimize women who have been abused? What must we do to end the culture of rape?

We are living a scary lie if we continue thinking that horrific events such as the India gang-rape only happen to women in far away lands, by men driven by “different” cultural practices and beliefs. This violence exists in our own backyards and until we become aware of it and declare it as unacceptable, it will persist.

In her recent CNN op-ed, Lauren Wolfe called for 2013 to be the year to finally end rape. I think Mennonite and religious communities should take on the fight to make this the year that sexualized violence ends. Of course this is an optimistic battle cry. The odds are against us. But there are very apparent ways we can change the world we live in today if we all decide to make it so.

Yesterday, WMC’s Women Under Siege posted a forum for followers to answer the question, “What would you do to end rape in 2013?” Wolfe wrote, “We need concerted collective thinking on how to end the constant violence tearing apart women’s bodies, families, and entire communities.”

Here are a few thoughts on how to create change this year:

• We need to hold perpetrators accountable to their actions.
• We need to educate young boys and men on rape culture and how not to rape.
• We need to change laws and justice systems.
• We need to encourage churches, religious institutions and religious authoritative figures to understand and educate about violence against women.
• We need to understand that rape affects all genders, families, communities, cultures.

In an effort to create “collective thinking,” I’m proposing the question to the Mennonite and Our Stories Untold community to answer on WMC’s Women Under Siege’s forum:

 What would YOU do to end rape in 2013?