25 June 2005 - 7:03pm
The Japan Times Online- Rape as an instrument of War
"According to a report prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross, titled 'Women and War' and based on two years of research from 1998 to 1999, approximately 80 percent of war victims are women and children. This is mainly because military conflicts now more commonly engulf towns and cities instead of only frontline areas.There are many in this world for whom the ravages of war - including arson, looting, murder and rape -- are a way of life. These people have known little else than war all their lives, like their parents before them and their children (if they survive) after them. These generations of war face atrocities on a daily basis, and most of these go unnoticed by the rest of the world.
--snip--While rape can be used to brutalize both sexes, it is usually committed against women during wartime -- males are usually killed or captured. Ongoing conflicts in many countries, including Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan and Congo, have victims of war rapes running into the thousands.
--snip--Rape is a more effective weapon of war than killing. Many victims say they would prefer death over life after being raped." [emphasis mine]
Read the whole article if you have the stomach for it.
I'm cross-posting this every damned place I can because I'm sick of people telling me that war affects men and women equally.
80% Women and Children. Only one in five is a man. War is a Woman's issue. Women's Rights Are Human Rights.
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Comments
So, what you're saying is that women are lumped in with children? At what age does a boy stop being a child and is therefore no longer important to the statistic? While it's easy to agree that women do suffer in war, I would never say that war affects women and men equally.
Especially not in this country:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/inde...
1700+ soldiers who should never have been outside the U.S. have died and that is a tragedy. It is not, however, more of a tragedy than the 100,000+ Iraqi civilians that have been murdered for no reason, nor the suffering of those who have had their country's entire infrastructure destroyed for no reason.
And as for "lumping children in with women" - what part of "only 1 in 5 is a man" didn't you understand?
Morgaine-ism© #8
"A Woman's Sexual and Reproductive Autonomy is Sacred and Absolute."
In what two recent conflicts have the invading armies not raped or abused any women?
If you're thinking of Afghanistan and Iraq, think again. Maybe you should read up on the sexual assaults that happen within the ranks.
Hint: The women in these countries lived under two of the most brutal and repressive regimes in history, and they now have freedom of speech, assembly and conscience (according to the UN and various NGOs.
Additional hint: The repression wasn't theoretical or sociological but entailed beatings, imprisonment, rape, torture (of the flesh rending type) and murder.
Answer.
Afghanistan and Iraq!
I've already written about the state of women in Iraq. mcmorris, either you are a fool or you think all of us are.
But don't take my word for it. Take a look at:
Graphic photographs.
Slate article.
Another article.
More.
More.
At what point...
will you...
let go of...
your Pollyanna fantasies....
about war...
and how women are treated in the American military?