Combatants

Discursive and Political Deployments by/of the 2002 Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers/Martyrs

Citation:

Hasso, Frances S. 2005. “Discursive and Political Deployments by/of the 2002 Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers/Martyrs.” Feminist Review 81 (1): 23–51.

Author: Frances S. Hasso

Abstract:

This paper focuses on representations by and deployments of the four Palestinian women who during the first four months of 2002 killed themselves in organized attacks against Israeli military personnel or civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories or Israel. The paper addresses the manner in which these militant women produced and situated themselves as gendered-political subjects, and argues that their self-representations and acts were deployed by individuals and groups in the region to reflect and articulate other gendered-political subjectivities that at times undermined or rearticulated patriarchal religio-nationalist understandings of gender and women in relation to corporeality, authenticity, and community. The data analysed include photographs, narrative representations in television and newspaper media, the messages the women left behind, and secondary sources.

Keywords: women, masculinity, suicide bombers

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Media, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2005

Rape as Terror: The Case of Bosnia

Citation:

Benard, Cheryl. 1994. “Rape as Terror: The Case of Bosnia.” Terrorism and Political Violence 6 (1): 29–43.

Author: Cheryl Benard

Abstract:

Using Bosnia since 1992 as a case study, this article examines the significance of rape as a deliberate instrument of terror in the context of war. Political science has generally neglected to analyze this phenomenon, but has instead generally adhered to the popular view that rape is simply an inevitable by-product of war. The article therefore seeks first to differentiate contexts and functions of rape on the basis of socio-military ideology, intent and consequences. Four distinct configurations of wartime rape are identified: rape as bounty; rape as a formally forbidden but de facto tolerated outlet for the soldiers; rape as a breakdown of the command structure and the morale of the troops; and rape as part of the deliberate assault strategy. The Bosnian case is found to represent a combination of the first and fourth configurations. Based on data from 250 interviews with Bosnian refugees in Croatia and Austria, the tactical functions of rape as a part of 'ethnic cleansing' are described, and parallels are determined between rape and the terrorizing of other vulnerable civilians such as children. The interviews also yielded incidental reports of the efforts of individual dissenting soldiers to prevent rape. In conclusion it is noted that while a tactical interpretation of rape is illuminating, it leaves many questions concerning the willingness of large numbers of men to employ sexual violence.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Combatants, Ethnicity, Gender, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 1994

The Effects of Armed Conflict on Girls and Women

Citation:

McKay, Susan. 1998. “The Effects of Armed Conflict on Girls and Women.” Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 4 (4): 381–92.

Author: Susan McKay

Abstract:

This article discusses the gender-specific effects of armed conflict on girls and women that are addressed by the Machel Study. Among the most traumatic of these effects is sexual exploitation and gender-based violence, each having profound psychosocial consequences. Other gendered effects occur when girls are recruited as child soldiers, girls and women become internally and externally displaced refugees, and public health services, such as reproductive health care, are inadequate or unavailable. The Machel Study emphasizes women's proactive roles as peacebuilders and challenges governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to focus greater attention upon building women's capacities in order to better protect children's physical and psychosocial well-being.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Governance, Health, Mental Health, Reproductive Health, Trauma, NGOs, Peacebuilding, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Year: 1998

By Force of Arms: Rape, War, and Military Culture

Citation:

Morris, Madeline. 1996. “By Force of Arms: Rape, War, and Military Culture.” Duke Law Journal 45 (4): 651-781.

Author: Madeline Morris

Abstract:

Frequently throughout the history of warfare, widespread rape has been associated with war. It has been alleged in recent years that rape and sexual assault by military personnel in peacetime also constitute problems of substantial magnitude. This Article seeks to examine the relationship between sexual assault, combat, and military organizations. Toward that end, the Article first compares military rape rates with civilian rates in peace as well as in war. In the light of those crime-rate comparisons, the Article then offers policy analyses and proposals with a view to reducing the incidence of rape by military personnel.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender-Based Violence, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Rape

Year: 1996

Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC)

Citation:

Baaz, Maria Eriksson, and Maria Stern. 2009. “Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC).” International Studies Quarterly 53 (2): 495–518.

Authors: Maria Eriksson Baaz, Maria Stern

Abstract:

This article explores the ways soldiers in the Congo speak about the massive amount of rape committed by the armed forces in the recent war in the DRC. It focuses on the reasons that the soldiers give to why rape occurs. It discusses how the soldiers distinguish between ‘‘lust rapes’’ and ‘‘evil rapes’’ and argues that their explanations of rape must be understood in relation to notions of different (impossible) masculinities. Ultimately, through reading the soldiers’ words, we can glimpse the logics—arguably informed by the increasingly globalized context of soldiering—through which rape becomes possible, and even ‘‘normalized’’ in particular warscapes.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Globalization, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexuality Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2009

Gender and Post-Conflict Civil Society: Eritrea

Citation:

Campbell, Patricia J. 2005. “Gender and Post-Conflict Civil Society: Eritrea.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 7 (3): 377–99.

Author: Patricia J. Campbell

Abstract:

Women have historically participated in revolutionary/liberation movements. A consensus among scholars working in the field suggests that once the broader aims of the movement have been achieved, women's public role and the concern for gender differentiated interests diminish in the post-conflict society. The aim of this study is to apply this hypothesis using the case study of Eritrea. Eritrea offers an opportunity to study a modern, successful revolutionary movement that relied heavily upon women's contributions both as support personnel and as front-line soldiers. Preliminary evidence suggests that Eritrea is following the pattern of many other post-conflict societies. Several questions are addressed here: Does the hypothesis which suggests women's participation is welcomed during a revolutionary struggle, but discouraged inpost-conflict society, hold true in the Eritrean case? What role did women play in Eritrean independence and what role do they currently play? Have the reforms enacted by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) carried forward under the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ)? What role does women's inclusion play in creating a viable civil society? How has the generational aspect of women's military service affected society's overall perception of women?

Keywords: civil society, Eritrea, Gender, human rights, post-conflict, women

Topics: Armed Conflict, National Liberation Wars, Civil Society, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Eritrea

Year: 2005

The Intractability of Militarised Masculinity: A Case Study of Former Self-Defence Unit Members in the Kathorus Area, South Africa

Citation:

Langa, Malose, and Gillian Eagle. 2008. “The Intractability of Militarised Masculinity: A Case Study of Former Self-Defence Unit Members in the Kathorus Area, South Africa.” South African Journal of Psychology 38 (1): 152–75.

Authors: Malose Langa, Gillian Eagle

Abstract:

The study explores the struggle to maintain and transform a 'masculine' identity acquired primarily as a consequence of serving as part of a township-based paramilitary force in the pre-democratic South Africa. Based on accounts of former Self-Defence Unit (SDU) members from the Kathorus region (a group of townships on the perimeter of Johannesburg), the article explores some of the forces that influenced young men to become involved in political violence, the status this bestowed upon them, and how aspects of their 'militarised identity have come into conflict with new constructs of masculinity in a post-apartheid South Africa'. Although the experiences of South African ex-combatants have been documented in a number of reports and articles (Gear, 2002; Marks, 2001; Mashike & Mokalobe, 2003; Xaba, 2001), this article seeks to highlight the intractability of a particular form of masculine identity attained during the pivotal stage of early and late adolescent development. The negative consequences of this weddedness to a militarised masculinity for both the men themselves and the broader society are explored, together with some of the dimensions that appear to make this identity so compelling and so difficult to transform. The article draws upon theoretical understandings that suggest that gender and masculinity are socially constructed, and is based on data collected by means of individual interviews and focus groups conducted, with former combatants. The interviews reveal that images of militarised masculinity were popularised and dominant during the liberation struggle against apartheid, particularly amongst urban youth who were recruited into resistance activities. Young combatants were expected to be strong, brave, tough, fearless, aggressive, and violent. In many urban townships, young boys who were not part of the liberation struggle and youth politics were constructed as lacking in masculinity. Post 1994, virtually overnight, young combatants were expected to relinquish their militarised roles and to adopt new forms of masculinity without the facilitation of any demilitarisation programme to address the complexities of this transformation in their social and personal identity. The interviews reveal that many of these former combatants feel betrayed, forgotten, and alienated in post-apartheid South Africa. Some have carried their militarised masculinities into the new democracy, continuing to be involved in violent activities and risk-taking behaviours. Although many of them appear to be suffering from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other aspects of war trauma, attending counselling is seen as a sign of weakness and as an insult to militarised masculinity. The article argues that interventions to assist with identity transformation and greater social integration of such marginalised young men need to take account of these dynamics.

Topics: Age, Youth, Combatants, Gender, Men, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Health, PTSD, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2008

A Question of Silence: The Rape of German Women by Occupation Soldiers

Citation:

Grossmann, Atina. 1995. “A Question of Silence: The Rape of German Women by Occupation Soldiers.” October 72 (Spring): 43–63. doi:10.2307/778926.

Author: Atina Grossmann

Topics: Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Central Europe Countries: Germany

Year: 1995

Female Fighters in the Sierra Leone War: Challenging the Assumptions?

Citation:

Coulter, Chris. 2008. “Female Fighters in the Sierra Leone War: Challenging the Assumptions?” Feminist Review 8: 54-73.

Author: Chris Coulter

Abstract:

This article looks at how the category of female fighters in the Sierra Leone civil war (1991–2002) was interpreted by the local population and by the international humanitarian community. The category of the female fighter both challenges and confuses the gendered stereotypes of ‘woman the victim’ and ‘man the perpetrator’ on multiple levels. Most research on ‘women and war’ focuses on women either as inherently more peaceful or merely as victims, and often unwittingly reproduces in ‘war-affected women’ a corresponding lack of ‘agency’. In this article, I criticize such theorizing by demonstrating the diversity and specificity of Sierra Leonean women's war experiences, while also examining how the notion of and discourse about war itself is gendered. While it has become necessary to expand the inquiries into what women do in war and to critically analyse women's roles as perpetuators and perpetrators of war and conflict, this article maintains that in situations where one can talk about the violence of women, as in the example of female combatants, one often finds violence against women as well.

Keywords: female fighters, war, Gender, Sierra Leone, West Africa

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gender-Based Violence, Humanitarian Assistance, Violence Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2008

Rape in War: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity

Citation:

Thomas, Dorothy Q., and Regan E. Ralph. 1994. “Rape in War: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity.” SAIS Review 14 (1): 81–99.

Authors: Dorothy Q. Thomas, Regan E. Ralph

Abstract:

Despite the prevalence of rape in conflicts throughout the world, wartime rape often has been mischaracterized and dismissed by military and political leaders, with the result that this abuse goes largely unpunished. The fact that rape is committed by men against women has contributed to its being portrayed as sexual or personal in nature, a portrayal that depoliticizes sexual abuse in conflict and results in it being ignored as a human rights abuse and a war crime. Documentary efforts reveal where and how rape functions as a tool of military strategy. Soldiers rape to subjugate and punish individual women and to terrorize communities and drive them into flight. Whenever committed by a state agent or an armed insurgent, whether a matter of policy or an individual incident of torture, wartime rape constitutes an abuse of power and a violation of international law.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender, International Law, Justice, Impunity, International Tribunals & Special Courts, War Crimes, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women

Year: 1994

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