Lens On
Some images may be too disturbing to show on here; this is how brutal and horrifying some acts are committed against women in oppressive countries.
Photo Credit: James Nachtwey
Mother lifts her slight child into a grave due to starvation.
Photo Credit: James Nachtwey
1957-Dorothy Courts, the first black student to be admitted to Little Rock High School. She was harassed so badly that she didn’t last more than 4 days.
*Cannot find photo credit, apologize.
Mother swims across river with children to escape U.S. raid bombs during Vietnam War.
Nazira (not her real name) is a 30-year-old Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) woman from Goradze where mass rapes took place. She was repeatedly raped by Chetniks (Serbian forces) from April to August 1992 and became pregnant. She is about to give birth and will give the infant away. She wants to forget the past and says she will never tell her husband who is fighting in Bosnia. She is presently hiding out with her 12-year-old son at her sister’s and doctors are uncertain she will ever recover her mental health. (www.bosniangenocide.wordpress.com) Photographer: Sophie Elbaz
A young girl about to undergo the extraordinarily painful act of female genital mutilation.
A victim of an acid attack in Southeast Asia, where it is a prevalent practice on women from angry ‘suitors’ and their families as punishment for refusing marriage. Usually the acid is thrown on their faces, permanently disfiguring them causing blindness also. Photo Credit: Ulrick Jantzen , Bangladesh
Runa, 20, a prostitute in Bangladesh. The scar on her face was made by her pimp. Photograph: Sven Torfinn/Panos (from http://www.guardian.co.uk)
- A bride at 12 years old, sold by her family, this girl endured torture, regular beatings and inhumane living conditions under her in-laws “care” for three years! When she tried to run away and was then captured, her husband (who she had just met for the first time) and her brother-in-law, took her into the streets in front of all of their friends and cut off her ears and nose.
One of the world’s largest Islamic organizations has issued a religious ruling stating that Muslims should feel free to marry prepubescent girls as young as six or seven. (Paul Williams, PhD: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org)
A victim of a phenomena called “corrective raping” in Africa. The rape of women who are gay or assumed to be gay.
A young girl tied to a tree in the Congo and raped for days. (NY Times article 2007).
Some actually fantastic information, Gladiola I discovered this.
Thank you. The photo of the Vietnamese mother with her 4 children was taken by Kyoichi Sawada.