“Rape is Cheaper than Bullets” - How Sexual Crimes Can Be Used as a Tactic in War.
- motleymagazine
- Nov 15, 2024
- 5 min read
By Deputy Current Affairs Editor Kate O Hanlon
All war tactics are detestable but very few manage to leave the psychological and sociological impact that rape does. While rape has been used during war as a means of subjugation since ancient times, it was only officially recognised as a war crime and a crime against humanity by the United Nations (UN) in 2008. From the initial torture to lingering generational trauma, how does this abhorrent “war tactic” permeate the psyche of entire countries? And how do soldiers find themselves capable of such horrific crimes that they would not generally be able to perpetrate during a time of peace?
Soldiers are not natural psychopaths, they are usually just ordinary people. When examining the psychology of the offender, we must recognise that there are a myriad of reasons as to why an ordinary person may be capable of such atrocities when they are made a soldier. Not all reasons proposed in this article, if any, may be applicable to an individual soldier.
In some cases the rape of women can be used as a form of ethnic cleansing, for example the systematic rape of Tutsi women by HIV infected men in Rwanda (1994). Treatment was extremely hard to come by for these women and on average 25-30 percent of babies birthed by a mother with HIV will also have HIV. This also plays off of a type of misogyny that is inherent in warfare i.e. the men of one population undermining the men of another because they could not protect their own women.
Not unlike the rape of Tutsi woman and children in Rwanda an incident that was widely reported in Ukraine was the rape of woman in the retreat from Kyiv by Russian forces in early April 2022. The BBC reported a story where a woman, Anna, was raped under threat of death if she did not comply to the soldiers sadistic whims. When speaking about the war in Ukraine US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that "What we've seen in Bucha is not the random act of a rogue unit. It's a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities”. While calculated attacks such as these are often executed, rape as a war tactic can also be far more erratic.
The order to rape civilians is not one that would ordinarily be passed down a chain of command but rather is usually a decision made by an individual soldier or more often than not a group of soldiers. Sexual crimes could be perpetrated due to a sort of “mob mentality” within a group of soldiers, as in they may either fear ostracisation from their cohort if they do not participate or could feel the act is permissible due to a sort of “shared guilt”. Rape is often a twisted way of venting their feeling of anger and hatred towards an enemy and its population - soldiers would be completely desensitised already after killing perfect strangers and seeing their friends killed. Propaganda would have dehumanised the enemy and made their actions seem, in their own minds, completely legitimate.
These soldiers could also be committing these sexual crimes because the opportunity simply presented itself. One United States Air Force (USAF) general, Chuck Horner, wrote about the Iraqi troops who raped Kuwaiti women in 1991, stating that "They realized that if they wanted to, they could." That being said, there is a shockingly low number of prosecution of soldiers for the crimes they commit during war time. Whether this is a form of leniency that is intended to support traumatised soldiers or just blatant negligence, all this does is perpetuate the violence against victims and ergo populations following war. Addressing this issue requires concerted efforts at legal, social, and military levels to prevent such atrocities and support survivors as well as soldiers.
During the October 7th massacre there were many atrocities reported, for example gang rape and genital mutilation. One witness for the New York Times, Sapir, saw many instances of such violence from her hiding spot. She saw a woman's breast cut off and thrown at her, women with nails driven into their thighs and genital areas, one woman who while being penetrated was stabbed every time she flinched. A makeshift parade in which the severed heads of three women were carried around and shown to others in the massacre. When talking about protests in London, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he didn’t “think London had ever seen such a large demonstration of rape apologists before”.
Following the October 7th attack there was an “increasingly permissive attitude towards sexual assault in Israeli detention centres”. One United Nations report confirms accounts of Palestinian women and girls “being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers”. There have also been at least two reports of rape by Israeli soldiers in these detention centres. In an open letter to governments involved in the war, “dozens of feminist and legal scholars and anti Zionist Jewish feminists condemned the ‘opportunistic manipulation of the issue of sexual assault by those commiting war crimes themselves’”. Rape is used over and over by the governments of victims in order to make the enemy out to be “monstrous”, yet these atrocities are often committed in both sides of a war, meaning that there is usually no moral high ground that could justify the continuation of a war that permits these acts of brutality.
Having discussed all of this we still need to look at rape itself and the impact it leaves not only on an individual person but also on a population as whole. During conflict rape victims usually don’t have access to medical or mental health supports. In conflict zones, women may become refugees, making them even more vulnerable to further violence and exploitation. There is also a massive amount of stigma surrounding rape, especially if you come from a more conservative culture. Following rape many people are extremely traumatised, often suffering from PTSD, depression, anxiety and feelings of shame which may lead them to isolate themselves. This prevents them from receiving community support. They may also feel the need to hide themselves and the reality of what happened to them due to fears of social stigmatisation.
The witness mentioned above, Sapir, did not want to give her second name to any publications because she knew that she would be “hounded” for the rest of her life if she did. The label of ‘victim’ does not garner support as often as it does deprive the person of social relationships and economic opportunities. If a victim is unfortunate enough to fall pregnant after an attack they are usually ostracised by their community as their child will be seen as part of the enemy. Wartime rape disrupts both social and familial structures, which in turn affects relationships and community cohesion. This perpetuates cycles of violence and trauma.
While pieces published in Motley are above all else meant to educate and inform readers, this article is also an appeal. Below Motley has linked some charities to support the victims of sexual abuse during war time. Don't take this as a comprehensive list though, if you are able and willing to donate please do your research on the charity/cause and donate to those you think would most benefit from your help.
Congo : Panzi Foundation
Ukraine : global survivors fund
Official UN donation page, includes Gaza and Tigray
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