This weekend, Nicholas Kristof wrote a searing editorial in the New York Times discussing an issue which is dear to my heart: rape as a military tool. For centuries, invading armies have been using rape as an extremely effective weapon to terrorize the populace as they sweep across new territory, splintering societies in the hopes of weakening resistance. Rape is fact such a commonplace tool that, historically, women have thrown themselves from cliffs along with their children rather than face the inevitable consequences of invasion.

Mass-rape isn’t out of style for the world’s militaries, although you might think it is, since, as Kristof points out, it gets less media coverage than pirated DVDs. Sadly, rape is just as widespread as it ever was, and perhaps even more brutal now, thanks to a plethora of weapons which can be used to abuse victims of war, and courtesy of refugee camps which conveniently pen up victims for the choosing.

In Serbia, women were raped, held for several months, and bussed back home with pregnant bellies to demoralize the “enemy”. In Africa, child soldiers are raped and in turn taught to rape. In Southeast Asia in the Second World War, attractive local women were herded together and made available to the Japanese military as “comfort women.” In Iraq, several isolated cases of rape have emerged, including rapes of American servicewomen, and these are undoubtedly scratching the surface of an endemic problem.

Rape as a “strategy of war” is not a “new twist,” as one of Kristof’s interviewees said, it’s an ancient practice, but that doesn’t make it any less foul and barbaric. I’m glad to see greater attention being drawn to the issue, because the apathy of the international community has really been a source of frustration for me. Because rape is often a silent, hidden crime, it’s sometimes hard to realize how systemic it has become, but we do have the testimony of numerous doctors, nurses, aid workers, and journalists to suggest that rape is as common as it ever was in military operations. Many brave individuals have stepped forward to speak about mass rape, and their voices have been largely ignored, which is a great tragedy.

I’ve always been a big fan of Nicholas Kristof and his discussions of women’s issues, but he’s been elevated to a personal hero now, thanks to his unflinching look at a very serious global problem. I hope that the fact that this issue is appearing on the front page of the Times will mark a sea-change in our indifferent attitudes about mass rape as a weapon. And, indeed, the prevalence of rape in general. As individual citizens, we may be powerless, but as a collective, we have a mighty voice: why not use it?