Rape in the Congo

There has been a media trickle for the last few years about rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that is beginning to gain strength and shed light one of the most horrific experiences of the modern world. Recent pieces in the New York Times(Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo, Jefferey Gettleman) and BBC Radio (Women's Hour, Congo Sex Crimes) seek to understand how and why rape is being perpetrated in the DRC on a scale and with a brutality not seen for centuries. What is driving this phenomenon? How do we even conceive of it? in evolutionarily terms? - where women suffer rapes so brutal they fracture spines? In social terms - how can a society recover from this type of violence? How do we stop it? So far, these peices have brought more questions than answers, but at least the topic is emerging from hiding...