I am a freshman at Ursinus College in PA. I have recently been working on a research paper on Guatemala for my politics class and came across some research that greatly disturbed me. In Guatemala and other Latin American countries there is a different kind of genocide taking place, and it is called "femicide."

Thousands of women are being sexually abused, tortured, and murdered, simply because it is fashionable for men. These murders are not being viewed as important to these Latin American governments and not a single country is doing anything about it. So far approximately three people have been put in jail because they murdered their wife, mothers, sister, whomever. Men are getting away with murdering thousands of women and no one seems to care.

As a feminist organization, I urge you to inform your followers of the unthinkable acts that are taking place in countries not too far away from our own. I beg you to research this topic and help raise awareness for these poor women, who are being terrorized every day. These women need our help, and it is our duty to assist and protect these women.

We are very familiar with femicide — it's what's happening in the Congo, what happened in Mexico, and so on...it is an epidemic, but is overlooked specifically because it is a female problem or a problem disproportionately affecting women.

Another example of this is Sept. 11th — before Sept. 11th the only people concerned with the Taliban were feminists, who noted that women and girls were being denied an education and other basic human rights. Then their extreme regime affected others and finally the world cared. Sadly, it's not a new problem. I think that it is important for you to speak out and to see how it might also be happening closer to home. Also, I think that one of the main ways to spur people to action is education — so doing what you are doing is a great start. I hope you can spread the word to your campus and community and beyond.

— Amy