SV against Women

Citation:

Baker, Rachel B., and Marilyn S. Sommers. 2008. “Relationship of Genital Injuries and Age in Adolescent and Young Adult Rape Survivors.” Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing 37 (3): 282–89.

Authors: Rachel B. Baker, Marilyn S. Sommers

Abstract:

Objective : To examine the associations between age and genital injuries in adolescent and young adult women examined following rape.

Design & Setting : A retrospective review of 234 medical records from an emergency department sexual assault program. Sample : Women aged 14 to 29 years. Fifty percent of the sample was African American, 48% was White, and 2% was either Asian or an “ other ” race.

Main Outcome Measures : Genital injury was described by injury prevalence, frequency, and anatomical locations of injuries. Results : Overall genital injury prevalence was 62.8%. Younger age was not significantly associated with the presence or absence of genital injury. However, younger age was significantly associated with an increased number of genital injuries overall and to the thighs, labia minora, periurethral area, fossa navicularis, and vagina. Conclusion : These findings support the need for further research to determine if the current care provided to rape survivors is age appropriate.

Keywords: genital injury, rape, age, adolescents, young adults

Topics: Gender, Women, Girls, Health, Reproductive Health, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2008

Citation:

Seifert, Ruth. 1996. “The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars.” Women’s Studies International Forum 19: 35–43.

Author: Ruth Seifert

Abstract:

Mass rapes have occurred in all modern wars, but not until the gender-specific atrocities committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina have they attracted worldwide attention. The household explanations given for rapes in the context of war are that they are a natural occurrence to be attributed to a male anthropology or acts of hordes run wild. This has prevented a deeper probing into the meanings and functions of collective sexual violence against women. The objective of this paper is to identify patterns of war crimes against women and to show that they have cultural functions. They destroy the physical and psychological existence of the women concerned and, moreover, inflict harm on the culture and collective identity of the whole group, ethnicity, or nation under attack. War crimes against women have a symbolic meaning and must be analyzed within the symbolic contexts of the nation and the gender system.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnicity, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 1996

Citation:

Niarchos, Catherine N. 1995. “Women, War, and Rape: Challenges Facing the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.” Human Rights Quarterly 17 (4): 649-90.

Author: Catherine N. Niarchos

Abstract:

The International Tribunal established in 1993 to prosecute those responsible for atrocities committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991 has jurisdiction over acts of violence against women, including rape, forced prostitution, and forced impregnation. An estimated 20,000-50,000 women were raped in acts which were not random but, in fact, appear to be part of a deliberate policy. Rape has always played a significant role in war. Historically, it has not been regarded as a serious crime; at most, it has been considered a crime against honor. In order for the Tribunal to successfully address rape in the former Yugoslavia, it must overcome the double legacy of the historic use of rape as a weapon of war and the tendency of international humanitarian law's to overlook and dismiss the experience of women.

Topics: Gender, Women, International Law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans Countries: Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 1995

Citation:

Posel, Deborah. 2005. “The Scandal of Manhood: ‘Baby Rape’ and the Politicization of Sexual Violence in Post‐apartheid South Africa.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 7 (3): 239–52. doi: 10.1080/13691050412331293467.

Author: Deborah Posel

Abstract:

This paper traces the genealogy of sexual violence as a public and political issue in South Africa, from its initial marginalization and minimization during the apartheid era, through to the explosion of anguish and anger which marked the post-apartheid moment, and most dramatically the years 2001 and 2002. Of particular interest is the question of how and why the problem of sexual violence came to be seen as a scandal of manhood, putting male sexuality under critical public scrutiny. The paper argues that the sudden, intense eruption of public anxiety and argument about sexual violence which marked the post-apartheid period had relatively little to do with feminist analysis and politics (influential though this has been in some other respects). Rather, the key to understanding this politicization of sexual violence lies with its resonances with wider political and ideological anxieties about the manner of the national subject and the moral community of the country's fledgling democracy.

Topics: Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women, Sexuality Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2005

Citation:

Stiglmayer, Alexandra. 1994. Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Author: Alexandra Stiglmayer

Abstract:

Alexandra Stiglmayer interviewed survivors of the continuing war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to reveal, to a seemingly deaf world, the horrors of the ongoing war in the former Yugoslavia. The women—primarily of Muslim but also of Croatian and Serbian origin—have endured the atrocities of rape and the loss of loved ones. Their testimony, published in the 1993 German edition, is bare, direct, and its cumulative effect overwhelming.

The first English edition contains Stiglmayer's updates to her own two essays, one detailing the historical context of the current conflict and the other presenting the core of the book, interviews with some twenty victims of rape as well as interviews with three Serbian perpetrators. Essays investigating mass rape and war from ethnopsychological, sociological, cultural, and medical perspectives are included.

New essays by Catharine A. MacKinnon, Rhonda Copelon, and Susan Brownmiller address the crucial issues of recognizing the human rights of women and children. A foreword by Roy Gutman describes war crimes within the context of the UN Tribunal, and an afterword by Cynthia Enloe relates the mass rapes of this war to developments and reactions in the international women's movement.

Accounts of torture, murder, mutilation, abduction, sexual enslavement, and systematic attempts to impregnate—all in the name of "ethnic cleansing"—make for the grimmest of reading. However brutal and appalling the information conveyed here, this book cannot and should not be ignored. (Amazon)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women, Torture Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 1994

Citation:

Mantilla Falcón, Julissa. 2005. “The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Treatment of Sexual Violence Against Women.” Human Rights Brief 12 (2): 1–4.

Author: Julissa Mantilla Falcón

Abstract:

Sexual violence against women is an expression of gender- based violence that affects thousands of women around the world during times of armed conflict, as well as in times of peace. Impunity and silence typically surround these cases.

Many times, victims do not discuss what happened to them because of feelings of shame and guilt. In most cases, government authorities and some sectors of civil society do not consider sexual violence to be a human rights violation. Fortunately, international human rights instruments and judicial decisions have begun to define sexual violence as a violation of human rights and, in some contexts, as a crime against humanity or a war crime.

The work of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (PTRC) made important inroads in identifying sex- ual violence as a human rights violation. In its Final Report, the PTRC analyzed the situation of Peruvian women subjected to sexual violence during the armed conflict and countered the idea that it was simply a collateral damage of war. Asserting that sexual violence is a human rights violation, the PTRC established a record of the sexual violence that occurred during Peru’s 20 year armed conflict and recommended that the State institute a system of reparations for the victims.

The Final Report of the PTRC, released on August 28, 2003, includes a chapter on sexual violence against women. This article presents its main findings.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Society, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Human Rights, Justice, Crimes against Humanity, Impunity, Reparations, TRCs, War Crimes, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Peru

Year: 2005

Citation:

Snyder, Cindy S., Wesley J. Gabbard, J. Dean May, and Nihada Zulcic. 2006. “On the Battleground of Women’s Bodies: Mass Rape in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work 21 (2): 184-95.

Authors: Cindy S. Snyder, Wesley J. Gabbard, J. Dean May, Nihada Zulcic

Abstract:

This article critically reviews the literature pertaining to mass rape during times of war to identify and understand the unique factors that promote it. A greater understanding of these factors is considered a productive initial step toward proffering effective solutions to address this significant problem. The former Yugoslavia, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina, serves as a case study against which this literature is reviewed. The authors conclude that women's experience of rape in war, like the abuse of women's human rights, is often determined by the intersection of a variety of factors, such as age, race, class, religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Future studies should further explore how these complex variables relate to each other in an attempt to understand the horrific crimes that are often perpetrated against women during wartime.

Keywords: Bosnia, Yugoslavia, war, rape

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

Year: 2006

Citation:

Seifert, Ruth. 1993. War and Rape: Analytical Approaches. Geneva, Switzerland: Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

Author: Ruth Seifert

Abstract:

With the establishment of camps in the middle of Europe, for the single purpose of committing rape and sexual torture, violence against women has reached a new stage. In the following I shall attempt to open up an analytical perspective on these events. First, the question of the purpose of rape in general will be posed. Second, five explanations of the function of rape in war will be developed. Finally, some light will be thrown on the logic of silence that is characteristic of war crimes against women to this day.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Justice, War Crimes, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women, Torture, Sexual Torture

Year: 1993

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

Citation:

Olujic, Maria B. 1998. “Embodiment of Terror: Gendered Violence in Peacetime and Wartime in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 12 (1): 31–50.

Author: Maria B. Olujic

Abstract:

Gendered violence is not a special type of torture used only in war. Its roots are well established in peacetime. This article discusses parallels between the patterns of everyday domination and aggression during times of peace and war. Further, it discusses how metaphors and acts of rape in peacetime are transformed into symbols and acts of rape for wartime purposes. During peacetime the individual body, especially its essence--sexuality and reproduction--becomes the symbol of everyday domination and aggression. Wartime transforms individual bodies into social bodies as seen, for example, in genocidal rapes or ethnic cleansing, which are thought to purify the bloodlines. Then, institutions--that is, medical, religious, and government establishments--further reinforce the wartime process by manipulating the individual/social body into the body politic by controlling and defining "human life" and using political rapes to entice military action by the West. The final transformation (at the war's conclusion) is the reformation of the social body back into the individual body, making the individual body once again the focus of dominance and aggression as the acceptable social "order."

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Religion, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women, Sexuality, Torture, Sexual Torture Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia

Year: 1998