Guineans march against sexual violence. Photo via Facebook – Les Observateurs. Used with permission At the end of 2015, the Guinean blogosphere voiced their outrage in unison after a video circulated on social media that seemed to depict an attempted rape of a girl by a well-known rapper in Conakry, Guinea. Civil society organizations organized a march against rape and violence against women in Conakry in response to the video, with bloggers spreading the word under the hashtag #TouchePasAMaSoeur (Don't You Touch My Sister). According to the Guinean website Gnakry Live, the video that ignited the outrage appeared on October 28. In it, a young woman is threatened at knifepoint to disrobe, and she complies. The video is filmed from the alleged rapist's point of view. The accused, rapper Tamsir Toure, despite denying any wrongdoing on his Facebook, was eventually arrested over charges of sexual violence. In a conservative society such as the Guinean society, rape and other forms of violence against women are shrouded in a veil of hypocrisy, forcing the victims to remain silent on what they have endured. The citizen rally started after Fatou Baldé Yansane, president of the Association of Leading Women in Guinea, appealed to others through a post on her Facebook page: Ça n'arrive pas qu'aux autres. 75% des filles sont victimes de tentative ou de viol entre 8 et 20 ans. Dans la zone spéciale de Conakry, on estime à 96% de femmes victimes des violences basées sur le genre. Ces chiffres proviennent d'une étude multi sectorielle PNUD, autorités policières et judiciaires de guinee sur une durée de trois ans. It does not only happen to others. 75% of girls aged between 8 and 20 are victims of attempted rape or rape. In a specific borough of Conakry, around 96% of women are estimated to be victims of gender-related violence. These numbers came from a United Nations Development Programme study and included data taken from the Guinean police and judicial authorities over a three-year period. After being informed of the intention of these civil society organizations to rally, the members of the Guinea Bloggers Association reacted fast to help. First, they started by condemning the acts individually on their blog, just like Cireass did on his blog Rivières du sud (Rivers from the South): Aujourd’hui, les violences sexuelles en Guinée ont un visage [faisant allusion à l'accusé du viol en question dans la vidéo qui circule sur les réseaux sociaux]… Nous devons soutenir cette victime présumée dont nous n’avons pas forcément besoin de connaître la personnalité. Nous devons la soutenir parce qu’en Guinée des femmes sont souvent violées dans l’impunité totale. Oui, nous devons la soutenir parce que nous avons des mères, des jeunes et grandes sœurs, des tantes, des nièces, des cousines, des amies et des femmes ou des petites amies que nous aimerions être en sécurité. Nous devons soutenir cette femme parce que les relations sexuelles doivent être un plaisir partagé entre les deux partenaires. Pour la première fois, il faut que ces hommes comprennent que le sexe ne se force pas mais plutôt se négocie, et qui parle de négociation s’attend à des réussites et/ou à des échecs. Today, sexual violence in Guinea has a face… We should support the alleged victim without necessarily having to know her personality. We should support and stand by her since in Guinea women are often raped in total impunity. Yes, we should support her since we have mothers, younger and older sisters, aunts, nieces, cousins, female friends and wives or girlfriends that we wish to keep safe. We should support these women since sexual relations should be a shared pleasure between two partners. For the first time, these men should understand that sex should not be imposed but negotiated. And whoever talks of negotiation should be prepared to both succeed and/or fail. Cireass provided more information on the laws against sexual violence, underlining that rape should in theory be taken very seriously in Guinea, citing Article 321 of the penal code. But in practice, that's not always the reality. Here is the content of the article, as explained in his post: Le viol n’est pas une petite infraction. Selon l’Article 321 du Code pénal, “Tout acte de pénétration sexuelle, de quelque nature qu’il soit, commis sur la personne d’autrui par violence, contrainte ou surprise, constitue un viol. Le viol sera puni de la réclusion criminelle à temps de 5 à 10 ans.