Abstract
Recently, conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has been recognized as a major global security issue. In most of the existing literature CRSV has been separated into two categories: 1) opportunistic and 2) strategic and systematic. Critical feminists have argued that we should step away from this binary framing of the problem, but research on CRSV against men has hardly been included in the literature. The dynamics of CRSV against men are complex, but until now the problem has mostly been framed as strategic/systematic. In this paper, I will study how CRSV against men fits within the strategic and opportunistic frames of CRSV. I found that male-directed CRSV can be both strategic and opportunistic. Besides this, I found explanations that go beyond these binary framing and therefore to move away from heteronormative binary grids of CRSV against men. By identifying these explanations, this study contributes new insights to the ongoing debate on male-directed CRSV.
Evidence for Practice
Keywords: Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), male victims, strategy-opportunity paradigm, sex, pleasure, power
Citation: Boumann, A. (2022). Exploring explanations of conflict-related sexual violence against men. Public Note, 10(1), 25-33.
Recently, conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has been recognized as a major global security issue. In most of the existing literature CRSV has been separated into two categories: 1) opportunistic and 2) strategic and systematic. Critical feminists have argued that we should step away from this binary framing of the problem, but research on CRSV against men has hardly been included in the literature. The dynamics of CRSV against men are complex, but until now the problem has mostly been framed as strategic/systematic. In this paper, I will study how CRSV against men fits within the strategic and opportunistic frames of CRSV. I found that male-directed CRSV can be both strategic and opportunistic. Besides this, I found explanations that go beyond these binary framing and therefore to move away from heteronormative binary grids of CRSV against men. By identifying these explanations, this study contributes new insights to the ongoing debate on male-directed CRSV.
Evidence for Practice
- Conflict-related sexual violence is mostly framed as either the ‘sexed story’ (opportunistic) or the ‘gendered story’ (strategic). These heteronormative, binary framings are disproportionally negative against non-females, including men, and reduce sexual violence to merely an instrumental by-product of war.
- Strategic sexual violence is seen as the sole explanation for conflict-related sexual violence against men, completely disregarding the possibility of sex and sexual pleasure. This dominant framing limits the possibility to understand the complex dynamics of conflict-related sexual violence against men.
- I present stories of sexually violated men that are inconsistent with the dominant framing of conflict-related sexual violence against men and show that sexual violence can be about strategy, opportunism, pleasure and power.
Keywords: Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), male victims, strategy-opportunity paradigm, sex, pleasure, power
Citation: Boumann, A. (2022). Exploring explanations of conflict-related sexual violence against men. Public Note, 10(1), 25-33.
| A, Boumann (2022).pdf |
|
About the author
|
