The History of Sexual Violence in War | SpringerLink

The History of Sexual Violence in War | SpringerLink




The History of Sexual Violence in War

Authors
Authors and affiliations

Kristen Zaleski
M. S. W. Kate Majewski





1.
2.
Chapter


1Citations
4Readers
925DownloadsPart of the Focus on Sexuality Research book series (FOSR)
Abstract

The following chapter will outline the historical roots of sexualized violence in warfare and examine the major theories that attempt to explain why men rape. Examples are drawn from World Wars I and II, the civil wars in Bosnia and Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Rape of Nanking as ways to highlight how rape is used as a weapon of war in various capacities. The chapter ends with a discussion of when sexualized violence does not happen.

KeywordsWartime rape Sexualized violence Aggression Weapon of war


War provides men with the perfect psychologic backdrop to give vent to their contempt for women.—Susan Brownmiller

The element of truth behind all this, which people are so ready to disavow, is that men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creatures among whose instinctual endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of aggressiveness.—Sigmund Freud
Download chapter PDF
Cite chapter

How to cite?
.RISPapersReference ManagerRefWorksZotero
.ENWEndNote
.BIBBibTeXJabRefMendeley


In recent years, there has been an explosion of publicity in the United States into the issue of military sexual trauma. In researching this topic, a student might be tempted to focus on recent events as a means of understanding and conceptualizing it. Unfortunately, human history in many ways is one that has been recorded in blood, as it is replete with horrifying examples of violence. For instance, one of the first stories in the Bible is Cain slaying his brother Abel in a jealous rage (Genesis 4:8 New International Version). Archeologists studying excavation sites in what is now Germany found evidence that about 5,000 years ago, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers slaughtered a village of men, women, and children, carefully placing their skulls as trophies in a cave as a sort of homage to their crime (Kiernan, 2007). Thus, any study of man’s cruel and brutal treatment of each other must extend further back.

Perhaps the only historical theme as old as violence is the relationship between sex and violence. As Hicks (1994) notes, this seeming marriage of Mars, the Roman god of war, and Venus, the goddess of love and sex, is a theme consistent throughout history. Similarly, in the twentieth century, Sigmund Freud linked the twin human instincts of Eros and Thanatos, or the innate life and death instincts residing in every person (Bourke, 2007). Historical examples include the founding myth of the Roman Empire, which included the forced capture and rape of Sabine women. The Greek epic poem The Iliad details the Trojan War, started after Helen, the beautiful wife of the King of Sparta, was kidnapped as a result of the sexual desire of Paris, the prince of Troy (Homer, & Knox, 1998).

More recent examples include the mass rape and brutalization of Belgian women by invading German soldiers in World War I (Brownmiller, 1975). Approximately 30 years later, German women experienced a similar nightmare, as an estimated 100,000 to 1 million German women were raped over the course of a few weeks in 1945 by Soviet forces entering Berlin (Grossmann, 1995). In 1968, US servicemen massacred hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese inhabitants of the small village of My Lai, raping and sexually brutalizing dozens of women and children in the process (Neill, 2000). Conflict-related sexual violence has occurred in approximately 51 countries in the past 20 years, a “global scourge” that has occurred in both developed and developing nations (Bastick, Grimm, & Kunz, 2007, p. 7). Although sexual violence is most commonly perpetrated by men against women, women have also participated in the violence, as demonstrated by the Abu Ghraib scandal. At this prison in Iraq, American soldiers, including women, sexually humiliated Iraqi detainees, some even taking photographs as trophies (Leatherman, 2011). In April 2014, Islamist extremist group Boko Haram kidnapped 250 Nigerian girls from their school. The group, whose name means “Western education is sin,” claimed it would sell the girls as slaves, in accordance with the group’s interpretation of Islamic teachings (Duthiers, Sesay, & Carter, 2014).

These examples demonstrate the long and horrifying relationship between military conflict and sexual violence. Although sexual violence has clearly been evident in military conflicts and institutions for a long time, the historical record rarely includes the voices of victims. Scholars argue this lack of study is attributable to several factors: The first is that it is often the victors who do both the raping and the recording of history, and thus there is little incentive to admit any transgressions (Brownmiller, 1975). A second reason is misogyny, as historians and policymakers often pay little attention to that which is not valued, namely, the health and safety of women (Hynes, 2004; Kristof & WuDunn, 2009). A third factor for this silence is cultural and social discomfort with sex and sexual violence. For instance, many victims refuse to come forward after conflicts out of a desire to avoid the shame and stigma associated with sexual victimization (Diken & Bagge Laustsen, 2005; Leatherman, 2011). Additionally, for non-victims, comprehending the cruelty that humans are capable of inflicting on each other in the form of sexual violence is uncomfortable. This inability to comprehend such terror leads to silence and a resistance in the study of sexual violence and war. Unfortunately, refusing to understand an issue does not solve it, but rather prevents accountability for perpetrators and increases the shame and isolation of victims (Leatherman, 2011).

This chapter will explore some of theories scholars suggest in answering why sexual violence happens so often within military conflict. This chapter will explore conflicts where sexual violence did not occur, perhaps illustrating that this issue is not a fixed one, but rather one that might be preventable for future generations.

1.1 What Is Sexual Violence?
1.2 Theories on Sexual Violence
1.3 Recent Examples of Sexual Violence in War
1.4 When Does Sexual Violence Not Happen?
References
Copyright information
About this chapter

========