Every once in a while, a piece of writing comes along that truly connects the dots, challenging us to think beyond the traditional ways in which we tend to divide up issues. "We must act on the lessons learned during the Zuma rape trial," co-authored by South African gender activists Bafana Khumalo and Dean Peacock (both men, by the way) of Sonke Gender Justice Project, is just such an article. It weaves together analysis of the now-infamous Jacob Zuma rape trial (wherein former Deputy President of South Africa Jacob Zuma was acquitted of raping a 31-year-old family friend) with the story of a colleague of the authors who was raped in her home by a stranger while the trial was unfolding.

The two stories combine to pack a powerful punch: both highlight implicit and explicit tolerance for violence against women and the legal system's systemic failure to address it, both focus on the lack of support for rape survivors seeking to bring their assailants to justice, and both link gender discrimination and sexual violence to HIV/AIDS, which too often gets treated in isolation from the factors that make women so vulnerable. It's one of the most powerful calls to action I've read in a long time: especially from the mouths of two radical men! Check it out.