Militaries

Citation:

Howard III, John W., and Laura C. Prividera. 2004. “Rescuing Patriarchy or Saving ‘Jessica Lynch’: The Rhetorical Construction of the American Woman Soldier.” Women and Language 27 (2): 89–97.

Authors: John W. Howard III, Laura C. Prividera

Abstract:

Female soldiers are consistently challenged for their involvement in the military. They are excluded from combat roles and find it difficult to advance through the ranks (Carter, 1998). This challenge is perpetuated by media representations of female soldiers. Our research examines how media representations of female soldiers separate their feminine identity from their military identity. Specifically, we perform a feminist and critical rhetorical analysis of news stories on Private Jessica Lynch. First, we argue that the media reproduces traditional patriarchal roles for female and male soldiers. Next, we argue that Private Jessica Lynch was singled out for extensive media coverage because she could easily fit a submissive female archetype. Finally, we argue that Private Lynch's rescue is a rhetorical act to demonstrate U.S. Military prowess that encourages masculine constructions of warrior heroes. This demonstration aggravates the rift between the roles of "women" and "soldiers" in the U.S. Military and perpetuates the "female soldier" paradox.

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Feminisms, Gender, Femininity/ies, Media, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2004

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:

Chung, Chin-Sung. 1994. “Wartime State Violence against Women of Weak Nations: Military Sexual Slavery Enforced by Japan during World War II.” Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin 5 (2/3): 15–27.

Author: Chin-Sung Chung

Topics: Armed Conflict, Corruption, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Rape, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan

Year: 1994

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

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

Citation:

Luckham, Robin. 1994. “The Military, Militarization and Democratization in Africa: A Survey of Literature and Issues.” African Studies Review 37 (2): 13-75.

Author: Robin Luckham

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarization Regions: Africa

Year: 1994

Citation:

Theidon, Kimberly. 2003. "Disarming the Subject: Remembering War and Imagining Citizenship in Peru." Cultural Critique 54: 67-87.

Author: Kimberly Theidon

Topics: Armed Conflict, Citizenship, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarism Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Peru

Year: 2003

Citation:

De Waal, Alex. 2010. “Reframing Governance, Security and Conflict in the Light of HIV/AIDS: A Synthesis of Findings from the AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative.” Social Science & Medicine 70 (1): 114-20. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.031.

Author: Alex De Waal

Abstract:

This paper draws upon the findings of the AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative (ASCI) to reach conclusions about the relationship between HIV/AIDS, security, conflict and governance, in the areas of HIV/AIDS and state fragility, the reciprocal interactions between armed conflicts (including post-conflict transitions) and HIV/AIDS, and the impact of HIV/AIDS on uniformed services and their operational effectiveness. Gender issues cut across all elements of the research agenda. ASCI commissioned 29 research projects across regions, disciplines and communities of practice.

Over the last decade, approaches to HIV/AIDS as a security threat have altered dramatically, from the early anticipation that the epidemic posed a threat to the basic functioning of states and security institutions, to a more sanguine assessment that the impacts will be less severe than feared. ASCI finds that governance outcomes have been shaped as much by the perception of HIV/AIDS as a security threat, as the actual impacts of the epidemic.

ASCI research found that the current indices of fragility at country level did not demonstrate any significant association with HIV, calling into question the models used for asserting such linkages. However at local government level, appreciable impacts can be seen. Evidence from ASCI and elsewhere indicates that conventional indicators of conflict, including the definition of when it ends, fail to capture the social traumas associated with violent disruption and their implications for HIV. Policy frameworks adopted for political and security reasons translate poorly into social and public health policies. Fears of much-elevated HIV rates among soldiers with disastrous impacts on armies as institutions, have been overstated. In mature epidemics, rates of infection among the military resemble those of the peer groups within the general population. Military HIV/AIDS control policies follow a different and parallel paradigm to national (civilian) policies, in which armies prioritize command responsibility and operational effectiveness over individual rights. Law enforcement practices regarding criminalized and stigmatized activities, such as injecting drug use and commercial sex work, are an important factor in shaping the trajectory of HIV epidemics.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, security, conflict, governance

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Health, HIV/AIDS, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Post-Conflict, Security

Year: 2010

Citation:

Joseph, Joshua. 2007. "Rethinking Yamashita: Holding Military Leaders Accountable for Wartime Rape." Women's Rights Law Reporter 28 (2/3): 107-25.

Author: Joshua Joesph

Abstract:

This note explores the current controversy over the proper international standard for punishing commanders whose subordinates have committed rape, and examines the interplay between the nature of rape, the underlying theories of command responsibility, and an international legal system that has failed to produce fruitful results. The note contends that the continued occurrence of rape in times of war results in large part from the international community’s reluctance to punish high-level military officials who neither physically perpetrated the crime, were not present at the crime scene, and did not necessarily order rape.

The note proposes a slight expansion of the “knowledge presumption” standard used by early courts, whereby general, historical knowledge of rape would satisfy the mens rea requirement of command responsibility. Such a standard would make it easier to prosecute wartime military leaders. In addition, the note will propose a series of measures that military officials can use to both deter the commission of rape by subordinates and rebut the knowledge presumption. Finally, the note examines how the International Criminal Court could use such a standard to punish commanders for the atrocities currently under investigation in Darfur.

The note is particularly relevant and timely because widespread mass rape has been reported in the region of Darfur and is currently under investigation by ICC prosecutors. It is likely that the ICC will hear many of the cases involved in this dispute in the near future. Many of these cases will force the Court to examine its standard for punishing commanders whose subordinates have engaged in rape crimes.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan, Rwanda

Year: 2007