Fathers rape with impunity, fuelling Guatemala's teen pregnancies

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Thomas Reuters Foundation

Fathers rape with impunity, fuelling Guatemala's teen pregnancies
Published5 hours ago

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In Guatemala, most pregnancies among girls under 14 are the result of rape at the hands of fathers or other relatives, but often it is the girl who is forced to leave the family home, and few perpetrators are punished, said a leading rights campaigner.

Nearly a quarter of all births in Guatemala are among teenage mothers - one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Latin America.

"In the majority of cases of sexual violence against girls, some as young as 10, most are committed by family members, mainly by the girl's father or stepfather," said Mirna Montenegro, the head of Guatemala's Sexual and Reproductive Health Observatory (OSAR).

In 2012, nearly 90 per cent of all pregnancies among Guatemalan girls under 14 involved relatives, including cousins and uncles, of which 30 per cent were the result of rape by fathers, according to Guatemala's human rights ombudsman. Despite new laws passed in Guatemala to better protect against sexual violence, few who commit rape against girls are punished.

Read more: http://www.straitstimes.com/world/americas/fathers-rape-with-impunity-fuelling-guatemalas-teen-pregnancies

[enough]

1. When we read about this sort of thing in Muslim countries, it's blamed on Islam.

So I guess we can blame these atrocities on Christianity.

Jesus weeps.

[Arugula Latte]

3. Or blame it on patriarchy, which is the religion at the base of all of the three big monotheisms.

[dhill926]

6. you nailed it....

[former9thward]

13. So countries that don't follow the "three big monotheisms"

are not patriarchal? Never knew that....

[tblue37]

15. + a brazillion. nt

[Duppers]

20. +1000

AL, you always nail it. Thank you!

[valerief]

4. Yep, god's will. It's part and parcel of the religion. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

11. Wait. What I blame on Islam are the things that are actually associated with Islam.

For example sharia law, a specifically islamic religious legal system based on the koran, that in many parts of the world is used as the de jure or de facto legal system and is used to justify absolutely horrific treatment of women, and is used by ISIS to justify all sorts of horrendous nonsense.

Where christians or jews are doing similar things, I blame their religions as well. For example, orthodox jewish communities have a huge problem with their misogynistic rabbinical courts and divorce, trapping women into horrific marriages and then allowing the husbands to extort the families of their wives in order to end the marriage.

However we currently don't have any christian majority or jewish majority countries using the bible as their legal code, we gave that shit up a couple of hundred years ago.

I don't think Guatemala has imposed biblical law.

[enough]

16. The mind spinning. (nt)

[MisterP]

18. in fact it's often blamed on their being Natives: Paraguay too

[Arugula Latte]

2. Why are so many men violent and twisted?

I'll never understand it.

[irisblue]

10. + one million

[AwakeAtLast]

12. Training

Through cultural norms that are passed down for generations.

I don't think many men are born as rapists and pedophiles, they're made.

[oberliner]

5. This is so depressing

Here's another article on this topic from The Guardian:

Rape, ignorance, repression: why early pregnancy is endemic in Guatemala

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/26/guatemala-rape-early-pregnancy-sex-education-catholic-church

[Dont call me Shirley]

7. The hatred of the mother/woman entitles some males to believe females are their property.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Ah, well....

Resistance to introducing sex education to the curriculum is fierce, primarily from the Catholic church, which believes talking about sex would encourage young people to have sexual relationships.
“The Catholic church has a universal position,” says Montenegro. “Should the pope suddenly say: ‘Use birth control because you have too many children,’ then that is what would happen. Our current pope is a modernist.”

Abortion is illegal except in rare cases that require approval from several authorities. “Legalising abortion in Guatemala would lower the mortality rate for children in labour,” says Vasquez. “Our problem is the same as it is anywhere where abortion is illegal: women seek help from people who dn’t have the skills or training to perform abortions. It’s incredibly dangerous.”
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/26/guatemala-rape-early-pregnancy-sex-education-catholic-church

[SoapBox]

9. Sicko!

How depraved.

[alphafemale]

14. Razor blades girls. Wrap a razor blade between your fingers with strong tape or twine. nt

[MelungeonWoman]

19. Yeah. Because being beaten bloody by a grown man

is much more noble than meekly being raped.

Take those punches for your honor, ladies. If you aren't missing a few teeth, you wanted it.

[Dawson Leery]

17. Those middle eastern religions and their bronze age patriarchy.

[a la izquierda]

21. Macho attitudes towards women are positively atrocious.

Whether it's rape or murder of girls and women, few crimes are investigated and solved.
There's a phenomenal movie about the murders of women in Guatemala, called "Killers Paradise."