Ashley Judd’s Heart Of Darkness

"Sit with a woman, who, through word of mouth, heard there was a clinic which could help a woman who had been raped," said Judd. "She had to figure out—in the midst of being stigmatized, in the midst of her physical agony, in the midst of incontinence and starvation—how to get herself walking, crawling to this clinic, only to find that it's overcrowded, because there are so many women, hundreds, if not thousands, just like her. And just imagine, this is a clinic that does nothing but genital reconstruction."

"What exactly are we talking about here?"

"Well, the vagina will tear when being forced to accommodate either a rapist's anatomy or objects that are introduced: wood, rock, sticks, guns, bayonets. There will be perforation of the vaginal walls, perforation and ripping of the cervix, potentially, based on the extent of the penetration into the uterus. The wall between the rectum and vagina is ripped apart. The urethra, which goes to the bladder, is damaged. There is incontinence. The urine is constantly seeping out, because the muscles and mechanisms that hold the bladder intact are ruined; there is faecal incontinency, which of course can introduce faecal matter into the gut, which results in horrific infections. Does that paint the picture?"

It did. So I asked Judd if she thought people ought to have a stronger sense of just how horrible these scenes are—or would people simply turn their backs… again?

"Well, I think that it's abusive to point out a problem without also pointing out a solution. So unless there is a call to action and a practical plan for participating in the solution, I don't think that those pictures that truly depict the misery are helpful." Those are precisely the kinds of plans that PSI and the IRC and TheCommunity.com and other groups are trying to foster, of course, which is why Judd does talk about what is happening, and does hope people will listen.

And that would seem to be all there is to say about the voyeur question, but it is not.

"There was a time about two and a half years ago when I was so emotionally distressed and disturbed by everything I had seen, I got caught in some really negative, rigid, black and white thinking," she said. "I thought I had to chuck my whole life. I thought, 'I have to sell my farm. I have to walk away from the first world altogether.' I had to say to the global north: 'Bye, bye. I'm outta here.' And I thought the only way I can truly make a difference is living in a refugee camp." Only after much counselling did she come to believe again that she could lead a moderate, balanced life and still be useful in the world by witnessing, and talking about rape in Congo, workplace programs in Vietnam, or victims of human trafficking in Ethiopia. Some people will listen, someone may act, someday.

But on Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council condemned the fighting in the Congo while taking no major action. On Thursday, reports came out of Goma that the city was in a state of chaos. What has happened to the little girl in the pink tutu, no one can say.

© 2008