Violence Against Women In Conflict And War Zones Essay ⋆ Criminal Justice Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Wars and wartime violence have traditionally been considered the domain of men, but women’s bodies have always been part of the battlefield upon which wars and conflicts are fought. Men have used women’s bodies as a weapon against their enemies. Inflicting violence and exerting sexual power over women is a way to punish men and control their behavior. The violence, which is often sexual in nature, is often about exerting power and controlling women’s bodies. War violence, mostly reserved for men, leaves women without the means to fight back either physically or legally. Military hierarchy and tradition often also shield men who perpetrate this violence. In recent years, women on the home front and female soldiers also have fallen victim to violence by military men in war zones or recently returned from them.

Women In The War Zone

Since women have historically and are in some cases still considered the property of men, violence against them is seen as a direct assault on men with whom they are associated (fathers, brothers, husbands, etc.). Women might be tortured or violated in front of their families as a means of punishment not only for the women, but also for the men. This tactic is often used as a tool for gaining information from men who might otherwise not submit to torture executed against them directly. There is evidence that people submit to interrogations more quickly when someone they are close to is threatened or assaulted than if they are tortured themselves.

A large proportion of the violence perpetrated against women in conflict and war zones is of a sexual nature. This sort of violence is used both to exert the perpetrator’s masculinity and dominance as well as to assail the masculinity of the men with whom the woman is associated. The emotional assault of the demasculinization of men, achieved through violence against women, is often considered more destructive than physical violence against men.

In the case of rape and sexual assault, the violation of women’s bodies can compromise women’s chastity and virtue in the eyes of their families so that even if they are not killed during the initial act of violence, they may instead die at the hands of their families as a result of this violation.

Soldiers’ Wives And Dependents

Violence against women associated with war and conflict is not limited to those women in the main field of battle. Women and children who are associated with soldiers also endure violence after the soldiers return home. Recent studies of domestic violence suggest that the rates of violence in military homes are greater than those in civilian homes. Military personnel are trained in violence without always receiving training in how to properly contain that violence or their tempers. In addition, soldiers returning home from battle no longer have the decompression time once afforded to them because of the slower means of travel (ships and trains). Now with the use of air travel a soldier can shoot and kill enemy soldiers one day and be back with his or her family the next. This lack of substantial decompression time can result in soldiers not dissociating from violence and thus perpetrating more violence against their families.

Female Soldiers

In recent decades as women have become a larger part of many Western militaries, female soldiers have had to navigate a military environment that promotes a masculine organizational structure. Female soldiers often endure sexual harassment, physical violence, and rape because of their deviation from traditional gender roles and their invasion into a male-dominated world. In spite of evidence to the contrary, women’s participation in the military is often questioned based on their ability to successfully perform their responsibilities. When women do fall victim to physical attacks or sexual abuse, these attacks are sometimes seen as indicators of women’s inability to succeed in the military rather than as institutional problems supported by the structure of the military.

In war and conflict zones where there are not prostitutes present or other women available who will consent to sex, soldiers may resort to rape in order to fulfill their sexual desires and to exert their masculinity and power. Local women have historically been the victims of such attacks, but with the increase of the presence of female soldiers in these regions, there has also been an increase of male soldiers executing this sort of crime against their female counterparts. This form of violence serves a dual purpose, both to exert the male soldiers’ masculinity and dominance and to try to put the female soldier in her place and establish her inferiority as a woman and a soldier.

Sociological View Of Causes

The culture of masculinity within militaries (both foreign and domestic) creates an environment conducive to violence and bias against women. The masculine nature of the military as an institution emphasizes male dominance and privilege, further reinforcing notions of the inferiority and vulnerability of women, opening them up as easy targets of war violence. In addition, war is often about political power. Since rape and sexual assault are often about exerting power and control, the use of rape as an instrument of war fits into the ideology of the production of power. Understandings of traditional gender roles also contribute to the perpetration of violence against women in war and conflict zones.

Bibliography:

Caforio, G. (2003). Handbook of the sociology of the military. New York: Academic/Plenum.
Enloe, C. (2000). Maneuvers: The international politics of militarizing women’s lives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lorentzen, L. A., & Turpin, J. (1998). The women & war reader. New York: New York University Press.
Mercier, P. J., & Mercier, J. D. (2000). Battle cries on the homefront: Violence in the military family. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.

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