Sexual Violence

Citation:

Braithwaite, John. 2006. “Rape, Shame and Pride.” Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology & Crime Prevention 7: 2–16. 

Author: John Braithwaite

Abstract:

A proposition of the theory of reintegrative shaming is that a reason some societies have lower rates of rape is that rape is unthinkable to most men in those societies. This presentation shows how war interrupts the unthinkableness of rape. Bougainville society seems to have had a low level of rape until its war of the 1980s and 1990s. A single rape was one of the important sparks that lit its civil war. It caused perhaps over 5% of the population to lose their lives and perhaps over a third to be displaced from their homes. As in most wars, rape became common in Bougainville. A theory of why war causes epidemics of rape helps criminologists understand rape better. It can also help international relations scholars to see that the bigger problem caused by armed conflict today may be crime rather than battle deaths. Rape in peace and in war is interpreted according to Eliza Ahmed's theory of shame management and pride management. Ahmed's work is seen as an important advance in evidence‐based criminological theory. A deficiency of reintegrative shaming theory is that it neglects pride as the flip side of shame as an emotion. Shame displacement may be important to the explanation of rape; yet narcissistic pride may be more important. In war we see more vividly the social dynamics of how shame displacement and narcissistic pride allow both rape and the onset of war itself. Bougainville helps us to ponder how historically sustained, deep and broad restorative justice processes may be part of what is needed to return a society to peace and to low levels of rape.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Justice, Peacebuilding, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2006

Citation:

Min, Pyong Gap. 2003. “Korean ‘Comfort Women’: The Intersection of Colonial Power, Gender, and Class.” Gender & Society 17 (6): 938–57.

Author: Pyong Gap Min

Abstract:

During the Asian and Pacific War (1937-45), the Japanese government mobilized approximately 200,000 Asian women to military brothels to sexually serve Japanese soldiers. The majority of these victims were unmarried young women from Korea, Japan’s colony at that time. In the early 1990s, Korean feminist leaders helped more than 200 Korean survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery to come forward to tell the truth, which has further accelerated the redress movement for the women. One major issue in the redress movement and research relating to the so-called “comfort women” issue is whether Japan’s colonization of Korea or gender hierarchy was a more fundamental cause of the Korean women’s suffering. Using an intersectional perspective, this article analyzes how colonial power, gender hierarchy, and class were inseparably tied together to make the victims’ lives miserable. By doing so, it shows that a one-sided emphasis on colonization or gender hierarchy will misrepresent the feminist political issue and misinterpret the “comfort women’s” experiences.

Keywords: sexual violence against women, colonial power, Gender, class

Topics: Armed Conflict, Class, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan, North Korea, South Korea

Year: 2003

Citation:

Park, Jennifer. 2007. “Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War in International Humanitarian Law.” International Public Policy Review 3 (1): 13–18.

Author: Jennifer Park

Abstract:

Sexual violence as a weapon of war targets individuals not only on the basis of group membership, but also uniquely on the basis of gender. Despite substantial increases in occurrence during warfare, international and national mechanisms have largely neglected the impact of sexual violence in hindering peace and obscuring perceptions of security among population groups. The failure to clearly recognise sexual violence as a weapon of war has resulted in impunity, in turn affecting the likelihood of future outbreaks of conflict. To prevent further negligence, the establishments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have made notable progress toward reconceptualising sexual violence as a weapon of war. This paper highlights and evaluates the innovations made by the ICTY and the ICTR towards recognising the issue of sexual violence as a threat to international peace and security in international law.

Topics: International Law, International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Security, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Europe, Balkans Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2007

Citation:

Olujic, Maria B. 1995. “Women, Rape and War: The Continued Trauma of Refugees and Displaced Persons in Croatia.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 13 (1): 40-3.

Author: Maria B. Olujic

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Trauma, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Croatia

Year: 1995

Citation:

Nusair, Isis. 2008. “Gendered, Racialized And Sexualized Torture At Abu-Ghraib,” In Feminism and Wars: Confronting US Imperialism, edited by Mohanty and Riley, 179-93. London: Zed Books.

Author: Isis Nusair

Abstract:

This chapter examines the gendered, racialized and sexualized torture at Abu-Ghraib within the larger context of the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, and torture and mistreatment of detainees in other parts of Iraq; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Afghanistan. [Nusair] argue[s] that what took place at Abu-Ghraib is not an exceptional and isolated case perpetrated by few bad apples but part of an Orientalist representation that aims to shame and sexually humiliate detainees and reinforce their difference as racially inferior Others. Within this phallocentric binary logic of opposition where the East is represented as backward and barbarian and the West as civilizing and modernizing the naturalness and for-granted authority to dominate the Other is established. It is within this framework that [Nusair] analyze[s] the connection between militarist hyper-sexuality, feminization, and racialization at Abu-Ghraib. In addition, [Nusair] analyze[s] the silence around the rape of women at Abu-Ghraib, and the unveiling and stripping naked of detainees as they relate to the larger system of domination currently at play in Iraq. [Nusair] conclude[s] by analyzing current modes of feminist resistance in Iraq and the strategies used by activists to shape their lives within this highly masculinized and militarized system of control. 

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarism, Militarization, Race, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexuality, Torture, Sexual Torture Regions: MENA, Americas, Caribbean countries, North America, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iraq, United States of America

Year: 2008

Citation:

Hillman, Elizabeth L. 2009. “Front and Center: Sexual Violence in U.S. Military Law.” Politics & Society 37 (1): 101–29. doi:10.1177/0032329208329753.

Author: Elizabeth L. Hillman

Abstract:

Military-on-military sexual violence—the type of sexual violence that most directly disrupts operations, harms personnel, and undermines recruiting—occurs with astonishing frequency. The U.S. military has responded with a campaign to prevent and punish military-on-military sex crimes. This campaign, however, has made little progress, partly because of U.S. military law, a special realm of criminal justice dominated by legal precedents involving sexual violence and racialized images. By promulgating images and narratives of sexual exploitation, violent sexuality, and female subordination, the military justice system has helped to sustain a legal culture that reifies the connection between sexual violence and authentic soldiering.

Keywords: sexual violence, military justice, legal culture, reform

Topics: Combatants, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Security Sector Reform, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexuality Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2009

Citation:

Vikman, Elisabeth. 2005. “Modern Combat: Sexual Violence in Warfare, Part II.” Anthropology & Medicine 12 (1): 33–46. doi:10.1080/13648470500049834.

Author: Elisabeth Vikman

Abstract:

The previous part of this paper showed how sexual violence was perpetrated in ancient warfare. To follow here is an examination of modern evidence from China, Vietnam and former Yugoslavia, investigating influences that have pertained over centuries. A considerable amount of literature treats this subject, both with regards to specific cases and general theories. The aim here is to follow up questions posed in the previous paper. When, how and against whom is sexual violence perpetrated? Are there patterns or is it executed at random? What are the motives? Records of the conflicts were researched and existing theories applied to assist the interpretation of data. The results showed that violence often follows a pattern and that individual and common motives are intertwined. Comparing ancient and modern warfare, this paper demonstrates how certain cultural factors of military life shape the execution and perception of sexual violence during war, historically and cross-culturally.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Sexual Violence Regions: Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Balkans Countries: China, Vietnam, Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 2005

Citation:

Brown, Carol A. 1994. “Reproductive Control and Ethnic Conflict.” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 6 (1): 85–92. doi:10.1080/10402659408425778.

Author: Carol A. Brown

Abstract:

According to legend, Romulus, first ruler of ancient Rome, rid his people of the enemy Sabines by raiding their villages, stealing (“raping”) all the Sabine women, and making them wives for Roman men. The Sabine culture collapsed. Were the Roman‐Sabine children considered “pure‐blooded” Romans? Throughout history, ethnic groups have considered women and their childbearing capabilities to be central to ethnic struggle. New developments in birth control and reproductive technologies may fundamentally alter the future of ethnic conflict. Already we see the use of technologies affecting ethnic conflict and control over subordinate groups.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Health, Reproductive Health, Sexual Violence, Rape

Year: 1994

Citation:

Mežnarić, Silva. 1993. “The [Serbian] Rapists’ Progress: Ethnicity, Gender and Violence.” Revija Za Sociologiju 24 (3-4): 119-29.

Author: Silva Mežnarić

Abstract:

The paper examines two cases of rape as politics where violence, gender, ethnicity intersected with tragic consequences. First, the Serbian media campaign against the Albanians as rapists in Kosovo in 1990 is examined; secondly, the rape as politics of ethnic cleansing in the Serbian aggression in Bosnia in 1992-1993 is analyzed. It has been shown that Serbian media's rape campaign against Kosovo Albanians as perpetrators has been a prelude to the actual rapes by Serbian soldiers in Bosnia. In both cases, rape served as the special mean for defining the boundary of the Serbian ethnic niche in the Balkans.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Media, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia

Year: 1993

Citation:

Vikman, Elisabeth. 2005. “Ancient Origins: Sexual Violence in Warfare, Part I.” Anthropology & Medicine 12 (1): 21–31. doi:10.1080/13648470500049826.

Author: Elisabeth Vikman

Abstract:

Sexual violence frequently occurs in warfare. The focus here is on its perpetration throughout history, beginning with ancient Greek, Roman and Israeli societies. Many references to sexual violence in modern literature appear in studies on siege warfare. Rape has also been discussed as a main topic. The current paper explores how violence is described by ancient authors—Homer, Herodotus, Livy, Hebrew prophets and others—and in which contexts it occurs. What contemporary attitudes to these actions are conveyed by the sources? Did violations follow patterns as to how and when they were executed or did they take place at random? Was individual, physical gratification the sole motive? Ancient historiography and prose was researched and modern theories applied for the purpose of interpreting cases in greater detail. This investigation showed that ancient sources held multiple, often contradictory attitudes to sexual violence. In addition, apparent chaos in the battlefield appears more structured than expected and physical satisfaction offers only a partial explanation to the violence. In conjunction with the second part where modern evidence is discussed, the current papers provide an historical, cultural and psychological insight into the persistence of sexual violence and its influences.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Sexual Violence, Rape

Year: 2005