Rape and sexual assault are more common than people want to admit. Among all the women in your life, you know at least one who was raped, and probably more who have been assaulted. They may not have spoken to you about it, but being groped, fondled, kissed, and so on by strangers or people we know, without giving consent, are just a few things that too many women have happen in their lives.

Throughout June, a coalition of bloggers, spearheaded by Sheril at The Intersection, are bringing attention to the plight of the women and girls in Liberia and are calling it Silence is the Enemy. There are areas where the fighting has ended, but mass rapes are continuing. What’s going on over there is horrific:

An International Rescue Committee survey suggests 12 percent of girls aged 17 and under acknowledged having been sexually abused in some way over the previous 18 months. Further, of the 275 new sexual violence cases treated Jan-April by Doctors Without Borders, 28 percent involve children aged 4 or younger, and 33 percent involve children aged 5 through 12. That’s 61% age 12 or under.

It’s hard to look at Baby Grrl and imagine that in Liberia, she has a good chance of being raped before she becomes a teenager. And while it’s dire across the globe, let’s not be smug and complaciant that women and girls are immune in Oklahoma. Stop Child Trafficking Now works with local law enforcement and the Department of Justice to help bust the sex slave industry that is prevalent at the many truck stops along Oklahoma highways.

That’s why we all need to speak up. To DO something. Sciencewoman has a good list of what we can do:

A place to start:

* Call your congressperson. Congresspeople, in fact. Look up their contact information here. Tell them you have been compelled to contact them to find out what they can do to stop sexual violence against women and children in all forms, and abroad as well as in this country.

* Donate money (or time, if you have the skills) to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). They provide medical care to the children and women Kristof reported on, and to countless other women and children in war-torn countries across the world.

* Donate money or time to your local women’s shelter or to the National Domestic Abuse Hotline ’cause as much as we want to think this is a furrin problem, it ain’t (although perhaps it’s not so grevious here).

* Spread the word about this blog effort - through telling your own stories to friends and family, or through getting involved in your community shelter projects.

* Join in (with your own story, or not) on your own blog. A bunch of bloggers far more eloquent than me (updated list here) are donating any blog traffic money collected in June to MSF, and more traffic means more donations. We’ll be joining in, although details are still fuzzy (as we really don’t make enough to make our traffic donation worth while - so need to figure out a multiplication factor) - I’ll post an update with the final plan. In the meantime, visit the list and read their posts on this topic, or look for their tweets with hashtag #silencehurts .

If you want to help with child trafficking, donate to Stop Child Trafficking Now. Or if you’ve got another organization you donate to or want to give a shout out to, go with it. There are a lot of good ones out there.

The most unlikely way to donate will come in September, when Rock Band: The Beatles is released. On Xbox 360, the exclusive, special version dowloadable track “All You Need is Love” will be available, with all proceeds of the sales going to help Doctors Without Borders. I have no idea if it was the NY Times article that was the deciding factor, but even if it wasn’t, MSF is a wonderful organization that does a lot of good throughout the world.

Speak up. DO something.

Technorati tags: silence is the enemy, rape, doctors without borders