Victimization Of Women

Sexual Victimization of Women in Times of Conflict:

Precedent, Biology, Or Programming ?

In light of ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world where sex crimes have become prevalent, and in particular, those regions such as Darfur where the issue has reached epidemic proportions, one must consider certain issues. Is the sexual victimization of women during wartime and/or by soldiers inseperable from the conflicts themselves, or are there other causes at work? What is the psychology behind mass rape in conflict, and why has, as Amnesty International says, “The opportunistic rape and pillage of previous centuries has been replaced in modern conflict by rape used as an orchestrated combat tool.”1?

The wartime victimization of women has deep, dark, roots; the first evidence of which can be found almost 5000 years ago, when it was written in the The Epic of Gilgamesh, “He (Gilgamesh)...demands to be first with the bride, the king to be first and the husband to follow."2. Sex crimes in times of conflict are so pervasive in fact, that they serve as a common thread linking early bronze age battles to present day conflicts, in both Africa and the Middle East. Historical research inevitably leads to human misery-- if only due to the simple fact that, the more egregious an action, the more likely to be remembered. One of the worst of these crimes is the serial, mass rape of a defeated indigeneous people; as a result, the historical record is full of such atrocities. It would be natural to write these crimes off as the actions of an opportunistic and amoral conqueror; in many cases however the psychological and social aspects present in, and surrounding, all conflicts of scale are far more responsible, in...

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...equivalent. Just as the military ideal engenders the patriarchal ideals of masculine defenders, it infuses young men with a overblown male sexuality. Intrinsic to the nature of each, war and aggressive sexual behavior become inextricably linked.

Combine this with a culture of male superiority, and an unfailing obedience to ones commander, the combination is volatile. Going a step further, the enemy is depicted as an entity that victimizes women; in contrast our young men go to war to protect their sisters, daughters, mothers, and wives. The same desensitization programs that allow a young man to kill in the name of his country, the cultural objectification of women as sexual objects, combined with the military's overtly mysogynistic tone, the anger, fear, and aggression that walk hand in hand with a soldier in combat... these together can, and do lead to rape.