SV against Women

‘These Women, They Force Us to Rape Them:’ Rape as Narrative of Social Control in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Citation:

Moffett, Helen. 2006. “‘These Women, They Force Us to Rape Them:’ Rape as Narrative of Social Control in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32 (1): 129–44.

Author: Helen Moffett

Abstract:

South Africa has the worst known figures for gender-based violence for a country not at war. At least one in three South African women will be raped in her lifetime. The rates of sexual violence against women and children, as well as the signal failure of the criminal justice and health systems to curtail the crisis, suggest an unacknowledged gender civil war. Yet narratives about rape continue to be rewritten as stories about race, rather than gender. This stifles debate, demonizes black men, hardens racial barriers, and greatly hampers both disclosure and educational efforts. As an alternative to racially-inflected explanations, I argue that contemporary sexual violence in South Africa is fuelled by justificatory narratives that are rooted in apartheid practices that legitimated violence by the dominant group against the disempowered, not only in overtly political arenas, but in social, informal and domestic spaces. In South Africa, gender rankings are maintained and women regulated through rape, the most intimate form of violence. Thus, in post-apartheid, democratic South Africa, sexual violence has become a socially endorsed punitive project for maintaining patriarchal order. Men use rape to inscribe subordinate status on to an intimately known 'Other' - women. This is generally and globally true of rape, but in the case of South Africa, such activities draw on apartheid practices of control that have permeated all sectors of society.

Topics: Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Race, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2006

Sierra Leone: The Proving Ground for Prosecuting Rape as a War Crime

Citation:

Eaton, Shana. 2004. “Sierra Leone: The Proving Ground for Prosecuting Rape as a War Crime.” Georgetown Journal of International Law 35 (4): 873–919.

Author: Shana Eaton

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, International Law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Justice, War Crimes, Post-Conflict, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2004

Rape, War, and the Socialization of Masculinity: Why Our Refusal to Give Up War Ensures that Rape Cannot Be Eradicated

Citation:

Zurbriggen, Eileen L. 2010. “Rape, War, and the Socialization of Masculinity: Why Our Refusal to Give Up War Ensures That Rape Cannot Be Eradicated.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 34 (4): 538–49.

Author: Eileen L. Zurbriggen

Abstract:

Rape is endemic during war, suggesting that there may be important conceptual links between the two. A theoretical model is presented positing that rape and war are correlated because traditional (hegemonic) masculinity underlies, and is a cause of, both. An analysis of the literatures on masculinity, rape perpetration, and military socialization is conducted to support this model. Particular elements of traditional masculinity that are implicated include status and achievement; toughness and aggression; restricted emotionality; and power, dominance, and control. It is argued that society’s need for effective soldiers is the root cause of traditional masculine socialization and that this socialization ensures that rape will be prevalent. Possible strategies to minimize rape while preserving traditional masculine socialization are discussed.However, it is concluded that as long as most nations rely on warfare to respond to geopolitical conflict, rape prevention efforts will necessarily have only limited success.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women

Year: 2010

Gender and International Law: How the International Criminal Court Can Bring Justice to Victims of Sexual Violence

Citation:

Joseph, Joshua. 2009. “Gender and International Law: How the International Criminal Court Can Bring Justice to Victims of Sexual Violence.” Texas Journal of Women & the Law 18: 61–101.

Author: Joshua Joseph

Topics: Gender, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, Sexual Violence, SV against Women

Year: 2009

Masculine Domination in Sexual Violence: Interpreting Accounts of Three Cases of Rape in the South African Lowveld

Citation:

Niehaus, Isak. 2005. “Masculine Domination in Sexual Violence: Interpreting Accounts of Three Cases of Rape in the South African Lowveld.” In Men Behaving Differently: Men in South Africa Since 1994, edited by Graeme Reid and Liz Walker, 65–88. Capetown, South Africa: Double Storey Books.

Author: Isak Niehaus

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2005

“We’ll Kill You If You Cry”: Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict

Citation:

Taylor, Louise. 2003. “We’ll Kill You If You Cry”: Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Author: Louise Taylor

Abstract:

The 75-page report, “'We’ll Kill You If You Cry:' Sexual Violence in the  Sierra Leone Conflict,” presents evidence of horrific abuses against women and girls in every region of the country by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as other rebel, government and international peacekeeping forces. The Human Rights Watch report, which is based on hundreds of interviews with victims, witnesses and officials, details crimes of sexual violence committed primarily by soldiers of various rebel forces—the RUF, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the West Side Boys. The report also examines sexual violence by government forces and militias, as well as international peacekeepers.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Male Combatants, Gender, Women, Girls, International Organizations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Private Military & Security, Militaries, Militias, Non-State Armed Groups, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2003

The Special Court for Sierra Leone: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity for Gender-Based Crimes?

Citation:

Damgaard, Ciara. 2004. “The Special Court for Sierra Leone: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity for Gender-Based Crimes?” Nordic Journal of International Law 73 (4): 485–503.

Author: Ciara Damgaard

Abstract:

The focus of this article is the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the extent to which it can be said that the Special Court has already challenged, or will, in the future, challenge the tradition of impunity for gender-based crimes. In this regard, an analysis is undertaken of the Special Court’s Statute, Rules of Procedure and Evidence and practice to date, in order to determine its treatment of gender-based crimes and whether it can be said that the Special Court for Sierra Leone challenges the tradition of impunity for gender-based crimes.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Justice, Impunity, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2004

Gender Violence: The Hidden War Crime

Citation:

Aafjes, Astrid. 1998. Gender Violence: The Hidden War Crime. Washington, DC: Women, Law & Development International.

Author: Astrid Aafjes

Abstract:

Sexual violence has been practiced against women during armed conflicts since the beginning of warfare, but until recently the international community perceived and accepted such gender-based abuse as an inevitable byproduct of war. Rape and other forms of sexual abuse have been explicitly or implicitly prohibited by most international and regional human rights and humanitarian laws for decades.  Almost every country in the world has ratified and signed one or more of these instruments and, therefore, has obligations under multiple treaties to protect women against sexual violence during armed conflict. Yet rape remains the least condemned war crime. (Google Books)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, Justice, War Crimes, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women

Year: 1998

Wartime Sexual Violence: Assessing a Human Security Response to War-Affected Girls in Sierra Leone

Citation:

Denov, Myriam. 2006. “Wartime Sexual Violence: Assessing a Human Security Response to War-Affected Girls in Sierra Leone.” Security Dialogue 37 (3): 319–42.

Author: Myriam Denov

Abstract:

Wartime sexual violence continues to be widespread and systematic in contemporary conflicts. Although the problem is gaining increasing international attention, it has remained, for the most part, peripheral within the domain of security studies. However, the human security agenda may have the capacity to raise the profile of wartime sexual violence and offer a useful framework from which to understand and respond to the unique needs of war-affected girls and women. This article explores the capacity of the human security agenda, both conceptually and practically, to address the plight of girl victims of sexual violence in the aftermath of Sierra Leone’s conflict. Drawing upon the perspectives and experiences of three girls formerly associated with Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, the article traces the extreme forms of sexual violence and insecurity girls were forced to endure, both during and following the conflict. It also examines a number of human security efforts implemented in the conflict’s aftermath and their impact on the level of empowerment, protection and security of girls. The broader implications of these human security efforts are explored in light of the girls’ lived realities in post-conflict Sierra Leone.

Keywords: sexual violence, human security, girls, war, Sierra Leone

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Girls, Gendered Power Relations, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Security, Human Security, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2006

Making the Invisible War Crime Visible: Post-Conflict Justice for Sierra Leone’s Rape Victims

Citation:

Nowrojee, Binaifer. 2005. “Making the Invisible War Crime Visible: Post-Conflict Justice for Sierra Leone’s Rape Victims.” Harvard Human Rights Journal 18: 85-105.

Author: Binaifer Nowrojee

Abstract:

When the civil war in Sierra Leone came to an end in 2002, the international community created two transitional justice mechanisms to address past atrocities: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“TRC”) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Little attention has been paid in the international community or in the scholarly literature to the efforts made by these institutions to address and redress the wartime sexual violence routinely directed at women and girls. The two institutions in Sierra Leone are noteworthy for seriously undertaking to fulfill their mandate to address crimes against women and for using gender-sensitive strategies to ensure the comfort, safety, and dignity of the rape victims coming forward to testify. While this should be standard operating practice for international institutions, the practices of the ad hoc international criminal tribunals and other transitional justice mechanisms illustrate the unfortunate fact that gender justice often remains the exception rather than the rule in post-conflict societies. Additionally, Sierra Leone represents one of the only places in which the international community has set up both a truth commission and a court in a post-conflict setting; utilizing both institutions concurrently has already produced both positive and negative effects for Sierra Leone, raising crucial questions and setting important precedents for future conflict resolution scenarios. Although the ultimate success of these two international justice mechanisms in the particular arena of gender justice in Sierra Leone remains to be seen, the steps taken so far are encouraging. Together, they can provide a “best practices” model for other international justice mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court. Sexual violence has been an invisible war crime in a wide variety of contemporary conflicts and mass atrocities; inclusion of gender violence in the post-conflict world of international justice can help to condemn these horrors and to make the perpetrators accountable for the particularly brutal violence perpetrated against women in wartime.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, International Organizations, Justice, TRCs, War Crimes, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2005

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