(CNN) -- I remember a chalk line drawn on blacktop by a group of kids at recess when I was young. The message was clear: This is the line you do not cross. If you stepped over it, you would face the wrath of those kids in whatever game we were playing. Now turn that line crimson and color it toxic. This is the adult version of "do not cross." This is the infamous red line. We first heard about it in terms of Syria a year ago. President Barack Obama said that the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad would cross a "red line" that would have "enormous consequences." As chemical weapons were deployed in Syria in August, Obama's tripwire was triggered. Then Obama told reporters: "First of all, I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line."
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Lauren Wolfe: Obama says world set "red line" on chemical weapons that can't be crossed
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She asks: Why does world have no such red line on abhorrent weapon of mass rape?
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She says in Syria and Congo, rape is "normalized," doesn't draw threat of intervention
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Wolfe: U.S. should rethink ties to Rwanda, which backs Congo militia known for atrocities
It is not struggling over what to do about the rape and torture of women and men in @placeholder or anywhere else.
"Although the Congolese I spoke to felt great empathy for the @placeholder, they felt confused by the U.S.'s immediate and overwhelming reaction when -- after 16 years and 8 million people dead -- they have been waiting and demanding that the U.S. stop supporting Rwanda," she says.
You could say we stayed out of @placeholder because it was "messy."