At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts... Among the graphic statements, which were later released under US freedom of information laws, is that of Kasim Mehaddi Hilas in which he says: “I saw [name of a translator] fucking a kid, his age would be about 15 to 18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered and I saw [name] who was wearing the military uniform, putting his dick in the little kid’s ass…. and the female soldier was taking pictures.” The translator was an American Egyptian who is now the subject of a civil court case in the US. Three detainees, including the alleged victim, refer to the use of a phosphorescent tube in the sexual abuse and another to the use of wire, while the victim also refers to part of a policeman’s “stick” all of which were apparently photographed.
Showing posts with label child rapists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child rapists. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Old ghosts
There seems to be explicit reasons why Obama backtracked and planned not to release the additional torture photos from Abu Ghraib...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Novel Sexual Slavery
Men over the ages have been fairly creative in finding out multiple avenues to address their sexual needs. Gentle coercion, trickery, prostitution, rape, blackmail, war booty and casual encounters with the opposite sex are but a few of the avenues readily available to the physically stronger of the human sexes. The method used may vary depending upon circumstances, the environment and local mores but the primal need to sexually subjugate and control members of the opposite sex remains. The New Yorker magazine profiles yet another form of this subjugation highlighting an ancient Hindu practice in southern India where pre-pubertal girls were initiated into becoming a sex worker (devadasis) by making the girl believe that she is a demi-goddess and the services she performs are actually a service to the lord. An elaborate medieval legend involving gods, goddesses, sages and wontons also provide for sufficient moral ammunition for purveyors of the trade to explain to themselves that all they are doing is just another form of worship which in the end will lead to salvation. It is indeed interesting to see the absurd lengths to which we men go to satisfy the primal urge. Indeed repulsive, pathetic and nauseating.
The writer goes with the two devadasis to see the goddess Yellamma at her temple in the southern state of Karnataka. Tells the legend of Yellamma, who was the wife of a powerful rishi, Jamadagni, who punished his body and performed feats of great austerity. After fathering four children, these included a vow of chastity. One day, Yellamma saw a heavenly being making love to his consort. The rush of desire she felt destroyed the yogic powers she used in her husband’s service. Jamadagni guessed what had happened and cursed his wife. According to one version of the story, Yellamma became sickly and ugly, covered with boils and festering sores, cursed to wander the roads of the Deccan begging for alms. Devadasis believe that the tale of Yellamma shows how the goddess is uniquely sympathetic to their fate.
The ‘sex through religion’ system which has been extant for the last thousand years (in some format or other) is starkly illustrated in Telugu poetry from the fifteenth century from the collection ‘When God Is a Customer’
I’m not like the others.
You may enter my house,
but only if you have the money.
If you don’t have as much as I ask,
a little less would do.
But I’ll not accept very little,
Lord Konkanesvara.
To step across the threshold
of my main door,
it’ll cost you a hundred in gold.
For two hundred you can see my
bedroom,
my bed of silk,
and climb into it.
Only if you have the money
To sit by my side
and to put your hand
boldly into my sari:
that will cost you ten thousand.
And seventy thousand
will get you a touch
of my full round breasts.
Only if you have the money
Three crores to bring
your mouth close to mine,
touch my lips and kiss.
To hug me tight,
to touch my place of love,
and get to total union,
listen well,
you must bathe me
in a shower of gold.
But only if you have the money
Abstracted from a study here are results of a survey conducted by Joint Women’s Program, Bangalore for National Commission for Women listing the top reasons for the dedication of pre-pubertal girls into a life of sexual slavery:
1. Being a blind, a deaf or a dumb or a crippled girl
2. Well being of the family
3. No male issues in the family
4. Mother was a devadasi
5. Only female child in the family
6. Followed from generations
7. Poverty
8. Father had undergone an operation and vowed to fulfill religious promise
9. It was a religious ritual
10. To appease Gods for the well-being
11. Father’s brother made her a devadasi
12. Due to skin ailments
Suggested References:
- Altekar, A.S., The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization, Benaras: Motilal Banarasi Das, 1956..
- Dubois Abbe J.A and Beachampes H.K., Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928
- Dumont Louis, Homo Hierarchius: The Caste System and Its Implications, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1972.
- Gough Kathleen, “Female Initiation Rites on the Malabar Coast”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, No. 85, 1952.
- Kadetotad, N.K., Religion and Society among the Harijans of Yellammana Jogatiyaru Hagu Devadasi Paddati (Jogati of Yellamma and Devadasi Custom), Dharwad, Karnatak University Press (Kannada), 1983.
- Srinivasan, K., Devadasi (a novel), Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1976.
Lucian Freud, “Naked Man on Bed’, Oil on canvas, 32” X 28”, 1989
The writer goes with the two devadasis to see the goddess Yellamma at her temple in the southern state of Karnataka. Tells the legend of Yellamma, who was the wife of a powerful rishi, Jamadagni, who punished his body and performed feats of great austerity. After fathering four children, these included a vow of chastity. One day, Yellamma saw a heavenly being making love to his consort. The rush of desire she felt destroyed the yogic powers she used in her husband’s service. Jamadagni guessed what had happened and cursed his wife. According to one version of the story, Yellamma became sickly and ugly, covered with boils and festering sores, cursed to wander the roads of the Deccan begging for alms. Devadasis believe that the tale of Yellamma shows how the goddess is uniquely sympathetic to their fate.
The ‘sex through religion’ system which has been extant for the last thousand years (in some format or other) is starkly illustrated in Telugu poetry from the fifteenth century from the collection ‘When God Is a Customer’
I’m not like the others.
You may enter my house,
but only if you have the money.
If you don’t have as much as I ask,
a little less would do.
But I’ll not accept very little,
Lord Konkanesvara.
To step across the threshold
of my main door,
it’ll cost you a hundred in gold.
For two hundred you can see my
bedroom,
my bed of silk,
and climb into it.
Only if you have the money
To sit by my side
and to put your hand
boldly into my sari:
that will cost you ten thousand.
And seventy thousand
will get you a touch
of my full round breasts.
Only if you have the money
Three crores to bring
your mouth close to mine,
touch my lips and kiss.
To hug me tight,
to touch my place of love,
and get to total union,
listen well,
you must bathe me
in a shower of gold.
But only if you have the money
Abstracted from a study here are results of a survey conducted by Joint Women’s Program, Bangalore for National Commission for Women listing the top reasons for the dedication of pre-pubertal girls into a life of sexual slavery:
1. Being a blind, a deaf or a dumb or a crippled girl
2. Well being of the family
3. No male issues in the family
4. Mother was a devadasi
5. Only female child in the family
6. Followed from generations
7. Poverty
8. Father had undergone an operation and vowed to fulfill religious promise
9. It was a religious ritual
10. To appease Gods for the well-being
11. Father’s brother made her a devadasi
12. Due to skin ailments
Suggested References:
- Altekar, A.S., The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization, Benaras: Motilal Banarasi Das, 1956..
- Dubois Abbe J.A and Beachampes H.K., Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928
- Dumont Louis, Homo Hierarchius: The Caste System and Its Implications, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1972.
- Gough Kathleen, “Female Initiation Rites on the Malabar Coast”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, No. 85, 1952.
- Kadetotad, N.K., Religion and Society among the Harijans of Yellammana Jogatiyaru Hagu Devadasi Paddati (Jogati of Yellamma and Devadasi Custom), Dharwad, Karnatak University Press (Kannada), 1983.
- Srinivasan, K., Devadasi (a novel), Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1976.
Lucian Freud, “Naked Man on Bed’, Oil on canvas, 32” X 28”, 1989Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Recent weaves
A sample of swirling thoughts in the minds of little Adams and Eves - a Poem
The Father,
he showed us a few tricks
every once in a while.
He lifted our frocks
he played with our shorts
helping us with the little mittens, amidst
gentle whispers to stay warm.
Even helped tie our laces,
after it was over.
His fingers seemed to glide
and hustle. Darting, furtive.
Everywhere.
God, it was confusing.
He said he loved us
and sometimes kissed us.
He often played pretend with us,
and, once in a while,
fucked us.
Yes, it did hurt
it hurt very much.
We thought it was part of liturgy.
A ritual. Part of our Sunday afternoons.
The sermons would also say;
learn to notice that silver lining (in every day things)…
The good Father would say that too – lovingly
and often.
We managed to find our bright spots here too.
The immediate pain was only fleeting, white hot,
infinite, yet, contained in place (not time).
After that, you get used to it.
Kind of like being whipped,
after the initial tear in your skin,
the subsequent lashes
are just consolation.
A perverse kind of consolation,
that the familiar is back (the numbing, a helper).
And don’t we all huddle to the familiar?
Like the flocks towards that good Shepard.
From here:
One out of five alleged victims of clerical abuse have been girls or women, according to a 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and conducted by researchers at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice. But that disparity “may have less to do with the actual incidence of abuse than with the reluctance of women to come forward,” says Angela Bonavoglia, a Ms. contributor and author of the 2005 book Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church. Bonavoglia believes the Church maintains a lingering blame-the-victim mentality toward girls and women. She has written that girls—particularly older ones—may be viewed with the biblical notion that they’re sexual temptresses—“little Eves”—responsible for enticing older men and consenting to “normal” relations. It’s much easier, then, for the Church’s male hierarchy to condemn the abuse of boys, since that’s seen as “homosexual behavior,” for which the Church offers blanket condemnation.
Sunil, 'Underwater', Sumi ink and charcoal on inkjet printed Strathmore paper, 9" X 12"
The Father,
he showed us a few tricks
every once in a while.
He lifted our frocks
he played with our shorts
helping us with the little mittens, amidst
gentle whispers to stay warm.
Even helped tie our laces,
after it was over.
His fingers seemed to glide
and hustle. Darting, furtive.
Everywhere.
God, it was confusing.
He said he loved us
and sometimes kissed us.
He often played pretend with us,
and, once in a while,
fucked us.
Yes, it did hurt
it hurt very much.
We thought it was part of liturgy.
A ritual. Part of our Sunday afternoons.
The sermons would also say;
learn to notice that silver lining (in every day things)…
The good Father would say that too – lovingly
and often.
We managed to find our bright spots here too.
The immediate pain was only fleeting, white hot,
infinite, yet, contained in place (not time).
After that, you get used to it.
Kind of like being whipped,
after the initial tear in your skin,
the subsequent lashes
are just consolation.
A perverse kind of consolation,
that the familiar is back (the numbing, a helper).
And don’t we all huddle to the familiar?
Like the flocks towards that good Shepard.
From here:
One out of five alleged victims of clerical abuse have been girls or women, according to a 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and conducted by researchers at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice. But that disparity “may have less to do with the actual incidence of abuse than with the reluctance of women to come forward,” says Angela Bonavoglia, a Ms. contributor and author of the 2005 book Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church. Bonavoglia believes the Church maintains a lingering blame-the-victim mentality toward girls and women. She has written that girls—particularly older ones—may be viewed with the biblical notion that they’re sexual temptresses—“little Eves”—responsible for enticing older men and consenting to “normal” relations. It’s much easier, then, for the Church’s male hierarchy to condemn the abuse of boys, since that’s seen as “homosexual behavior,” for which the Church offers blanket condemnation.
Sunil, 'Underwater', Sumi ink and charcoal on inkjet printed Strathmore paper, 9" X 12"
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