Wars have many costs. A lot of them are announced in the
news. Buildings are being destroyed, people are being shot. But how often do we
hear about women being sexually assaulted because of the war? Not often.
However, this still occurs. An article on the Daily Beast looks at this. This
website notices that sexual violence against women is used “to humiliate and
degrade victims and the groups with which they identify” (Westmacott &
Verveer). They also mention that while more than 20,000-50,000 women experience sexual
violence during wars, only 30 perpetrators are actually convicted (Westmacott & Verveer). Why so many are sexually violated
may never be fully explained. It may make the men who commit the act feel
superior and more masculine. I think that, as we look at the wars of today and
the wars of the future, we need to realize the sexual violence that occurs that
we never hear about. We also need to work to eliminate this from happening to the young women who get caught up in the war.
Ali-
ReplyDeleteThis article was very eye opening for me. The number of women who were raped in the Rwandan Genocide is unbelievable! Over half a women were raped out of 6 million people over a period of just 100 days! That is insane! This would mean that over 5,000 women were raped per day. After reading this I looked up the size of Rwanda and I found that it is comparable to the size of Maryland. Maryland's reported number of rapes was 1,169. The 1,169 in a year compared to half a million in one hundred days. How absurd!
~Sarah Jump
Sexual violence is definitely used as a way to further the oppression of groups of people in times of war. You're definitely correct in saying that sexual violence often gets ignored or else is not addressed in the way that it needs to be. The rate of conviction for perpetrators of sexual violence (in everyday life as well as in times of war) is sickeningly low.
ReplyDelete--Melissa Condon
In an article that I had read for my second article review, it explores the use of sexual violence to immaculate individuals and use it as a tool to prove dominance of one ethnic group over another. There is a lot more sexual violence that can do utilized within the armed conflict setting to complete this "task." This article's focus was on sexual violence against men rather than against women. The use of sexual violence as a "tool" was touched on in this blog post, but I think a further exploration helps further understanding of the topic.
ReplyDelete-Elijah Zagorski
This article was very informative. I agree with you that sexual violence is often ignored or not given much thought and I think that it definitely needs to be brought to everyones attention. The picture you added that says "It is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in modern conflict" is very powerful and really makes you think. It is so disgusting and scary to think that people actually use sexual violence as a weapon. It makes you really doubt the amount of humanity left in this world.
ReplyDelete- Ashley Compton