There’s a blogging event going on right now, and for the rest of June, started by Sheril Kirschenbaum at The Intersection, in an effort to draw attention to the frequent and widespread rape occurring presently in Liberia. The fact is, rape isn’t a regional or cultural problem — it’s an everywhere problem, and the solution to it requires all of us to participate.

This problem has thankfully not touched me directly (or indirectly, really, as my one experience with rape involves a girl crying wolf), and I’m afraid I don’t have anything to say about it that’s at all insightful. I know I am not capable personally of raping someone, but I am aware that with my inability to navigate social situations, I have had problems all my life distinguishing welcome from unwelcome attention whether on the giving or receiving end, and therefore have likely made more than one girl feel uncomfortable in my lifetime with my fumbling inability to flirt, or hell, even my fumbling inability to make sexual advances on someone who I know would be receptive, like a long-term girlfriend. Though I feel as though I have absolutely no ability to comprehend the actions of men willing to force themselves on others, being barely able to assert myself to any degree even when it’s solicited, I nonetheless feel compelled to do SOMETHING, so I will direct what little traffic I have to the myriad blog posts that have been put up in the past few days on on the subject.

The ScienceBlogs Select RSS tells me all the following blogs have posts on the subject, so I’ll link them now, though I have not yet had time to read all of them:

On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess
Thus Spake Zuska
Sciencewoman
Framing Science
DrugMonkey
Aardvarchaeology
Bioephemera
Aetiology
Neurotopia

A word of warning, many of these blogs are considered safe havens for women and thus those of you who happen to be swinging pipe would be well advised to lurk before posting, if posting at all. And remember that the only thing separating you from rapists is that you are likely neurotypical (e.g. not batshit insane), and you were likely brought up in a society that frowns upon men forcing themselves on women.

On other blogs on my RSS feed which I subscribe to specifically (as opposed to the ScienceBlogs Select feed), there are more blog posts you should read along the same lines. Here’s Greg Laden’s discussion entitled A Rape in Progress, and its Part 2. He also links to Women’s eNews where a connection is drawn between rape and conflict mineral mining. Stephanie Zvan wrote a brilliant article over at Quiche Moraine entitled Legacy of War where she delves into the first casualty of any war: civilization itself. And finally, and most certainly always worth a read, is DuWayne Brayton at Traumatized by Truth.

Hopefully that’s enough reading material to get you through the night. All of these blogs are going to be posting throughout the month on the topic, so visit them as frequently as you can manage. (I’m often late posting stuff because of information overload — I follow far too many blogs and far too much catches my eye.)