Jump to content

Violence against men: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Fixed typo; Fixed grammar
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit
Added a section about mass killings in conflict areas
Line 12: Line 12:
{{Main|Domestic violence against men}}
{{Main|Domestic violence against men}}
Men who are victims of [[domestic violence]] are at times reluctant to report it or to seek help. As with other forms of violence against men, [[intimate partner violence]] is generally less recognized in society when the victims are men.<ref name="Framework">{{cite journal | last1=Das Dasgupta | first1=Shamita | authorlink=Shamita Das Dasgupta | title=A Framework for Understanding Women's Use of Nonlethal Violence in Intimate Heterosexual Relationships | date=November 2002 | journal=[[Violence Against Women (journal)|Violence Against Women]] | volume=8 | issue=11 | pages=1364–1389 | url=http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/8/11/1364.abstract | accessdate=July 2, 2014 | doi=10.1177/107780102237408}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Violence of women against men in relationship is often trivialized due to the supposed weaker physique of women, in such cases the use of dangerous objects and weapons is omitted.<ref>http://time.com/2921491/hope-solo-women-violence/</ref>
Men who are victims of [[domestic violence]] are at times reluctant to report it or to seek help. As with other forms of violence against men, [[intimate partner violence]] is generally less recognized in society when the victims are men.<ref name="Framework">{{cite journal | last1=Das Dasgupta | first1=Shamita | authorlink=Shamita Das Dasgupta | title=A Framework for Understanding Women's Use of Nonlethal Violence in Intimate Heterosexual Relationships | date=November 2002 | journal=[[Violence Against Women (journal)|Violence Against Women]] | volume=8 | issue=11 | pages=1364–1389 | url=http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/8/11/1364.abstract | accessdate=July 2, 2014 | doi=10.1177/107780102237408}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Violence of women against men in relationship is often trivialized due to the supposed weaker physique of women, in such cases the use of dangerous objects and weapons is omitted.<ref>http://time.com/2921491/hope-solo-women-violence/</ref>

==Mass killings==

Men and sufficiently aged boys are routinely characterized as battle-aged or military-aged men. Re-classifications are done to justify violent actions taken against male victims, regardless of whether or not they were participating or were going to participate in the conflict. For instance, in an effort to reduce civilian casualties of drone strikes, the US broaden the definition of combatants to include all military aged men, unless posthumous intelligence reveals the victims were innocent. <ref>Greenwald, Glenn (2012). [http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/militants_media_propaganda/ “Militants”: media propaganda]</ref> The Israeli-Gaza Strip conflict in 2014 provides another example by which fighting aged Gazan men are suggested to be potential combatants in order to deflate the number of civilian casualties. <ref>Bernstein, David (2014). [http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/07/26/some-israel-gaza-notes/ Some Israel-Gaza notes].</ref> The end result of such policies discourages military actions from sparing men and sufficiently aged boys. Innocent men and sufficiently aged boys are only exonerated posthumously, long after they have already been killed or maimed.

In conflicts where the perpetrator of mass violence against men make no attempt to appear to abide by international law, it is not necessary to reclassify male civilians to be potential combatants, rebel suspects, or combatants. Men and sufficiently aged boys are simply amassed and killed outright. <ref>Jones, Adam (2000). ''Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2'', p. 185.</ref> There is a pattern throughout history "where enemy males were killed and enemy females enslaved, the only surviving adult representatives of the defeated enemy would of course be female, and the psychological equation would have been established, over time, between femaleness and the enemy 'Other.' <ref>Ehrenreich, Barbara (1997). ''Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War'', p. 130. Metropolitan Books, New York.</ref>

A couple reasons for this historical reality can be due to the obvious military logic of eliminating any potential threat arising from a conquered population, and also by sparing females from death they can be used to replenish and accelerate the reproductive capacity of the conquering power. <ref>Jones, Adam (2000). ''Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2'', p. 188.</ref>

In more recent times, there is considerable evidence that male civilians are the primary victim of mass killings in conflict zones. During Kosovo, estimates of civilian male victims of mass killings suggest that they made up more than 90% of all civilian casualties. <ref>Jones, Adam (2000). ''Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2'', p. 190.</ref> For instance, at Meja, Kosovo, in 1999, 500 men and boys were marched from the town away from the rest of their families and massacred by Serb police and paramilitaries. <ref>Hammer, Joshua. "On the Trail of the Hard Truth", Newsweek. 9 July 2000.</ref> A few years prior, during the Bosnian-Herzegovnia conflict during 1992-1995, it has been stated by the International Court of Justice in 2007 that Bosnian Serbs devised a plan to massacre all military aged Bosnian Muslim men.<ref>[http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=667&code=bhy&p1=3&p2=3&case=91&k=f4&p3=5 ''Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro'']. 26 February 2007.</ref> During that period, it has been estimated that up to 200,000 people were killed, the vast majority being men. During one particular instance in Srebrenica, 8000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered while 25-30k women, children, and seniors were displaced.<ref>Tabaeu, Ewa and Zwierzchowski, Jan (2010). [http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/bih_casualty_undercount_conf_paper_100201.pdf ''THE 1992-95 WAR IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: CENSUS-BASEDMULTIPLE SYSTEM ESTIMATION OF CASUALTIES UNDERCOUNT''].</ref>

There is extensive evidence of selective mass killings of civilian men during the 20th century during other major events such as the Stalin Purges<ref>Jones, Adam (2000). ''Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2'', p. 188.</ref>, and Bangladesh in 1971. <ref>Mascarenhas, Anthony (1972). "The Rape of Bangla Desh", p. 116. Vikas Publications, Delhi.</ref> Less is known of the extent of the mass killings of civilian men and boys in relatively smaller conflicts such as those perpetrated by the Boko Haram or Taliban during the 21st century. A couple individual crimes committed by the Boko Haram and Taliban would be the 59 Nigerian boys burned to death while the girls were told to leave and not pursue education <ref>Hemba, Joe (2014). [http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/26/us-nigeria-violence-idUSBREA1P10M20140226 ''Nigerian Islamists kill 59 pupils in boarding school attack'']. Reuters.</ref>, and over 100 Pakistani school boys that were massacred while the girls' classrooms were not attacked. <ref>Campbell, Bradley and Hackel, Joyce (2014). [http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-12-16/pakistani-girl-survives-taliban-attack-her-school-playing-dead ''A Pakistani girl survives a Taliban attack on her school by playing dead'']. PRI.</ref>

Non-combatant men and boys have been and continue to be the most frequent targets of mass killing and genocidal slaughter, as well as a host of lesser atrocities and abuses.<ref>''Human Security Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21st Century'', p. 111.</ref>


==Sexual violence==
==Sexual violence==

Revision as of 01:54, 2 March 2015

Violence against men is any act of violence that is aimed at men and caused at least in part by their being male rather than female. Men are overrepresented as both victims[1] and perpetrators of violence.[2][3] Sexual violence against men is treated differently in any given society and may be unrecognized by international law.[4]

Perceptions

According to studies of social attitudes,[clarification needed] violence is perceived as more or less serious depending on the gender of victim and perpetrator. According to a study in the publication Aggressive Behavior, violence against women was about a third more likely to be reported by third parties to the police regardless of the gender of the attacker,[5] although the most likely to be reported gender combination was a male perpetrator and female victim.[5] Similar to this, it has been argued[by whom?] that in conflict scenarios, sexual violence against men has been ignored in favour of a focus on sexual violence against women and children.[6] One explanation for this difference in focus is the physical power that men hold over women making people more likely to condemn violence with this gender configuration.[7] The concept of male survivors of violence go against social perceptions of the male gender role and leading to low recognition and provision.[clarification needed][8]

Domestic violence

Men who are victims of domestic violence are at times reluctant to report it or to seek help. As with other forms of violence against men, intimate partner violence is generally less recognized in society when the victims are men.[9] Violence of women against men in relationship is often trivialized due to the supposed weaker physique of women, in such cases the use of dangerous objects and weapons is omitted.[10]

Mass killings

Men and sufficiently aged boys are routinely characterized as battle-aged or military-aged men. Re-classifications are done to justify violent actions taken against male victims, regardless of whether or not they were participating or were going to participate in the conflict. For instance, in an effort to reduce civilian casualties of drone strikes, the US broaden the definition of combatants to include all military aged men, unless posthumous intelligence reveals the victims were innocent. [11] The Israeli-Gaza Strip conflict in 2014 provides another example by which fighting aged Gazan men are suggested to be potential combatants in order to deflate the number of civilian casualties. [12] The end result of such policies discourages military actions from sparing men and sufficiently aged boys. Innocent men and sufficiently aged boys are only exonerated posthumously, long after they have already been killed or maimed.

In conflicts where the perpetrator of mass violence against men make no attempt to appear to abide by international law, it is not necessary to reclassify male civilians to be potential combatants, rebel suspects, or combatants. Men and sufficiently aged boys are simply amassed and killed outright. [13] There is a pattern throughout history "where enemy males were killed and enemy females enslaved, the only surviving adult representatives of the defeated enemy would of course be female, and the psychological equation would have been established, over time, between femaleness and the enemy 'Other.' [14]

A couple reasons for this historical reality can be due to the obvious military logic of eliminating any potential threat arising from a conquered population, and also by sparing females from death they can be used to replenish and accelerate the reproductive capacity of the conquering power. [15]

In more recent times, there is considerable evidence that male civilians are the primary victim of mass killings in conflict zones. During Kosovo, estimates of civilian male victims of mass killings suggest that they made up more than 90% of all civilian casualties. [16] For instance, at Meja, Kosovo, in 1999, 500 men and boys were marched from the town away from the rest of their families and massacred by Serb police and paramilitaries. [17] A few years prior, during the Bosnian-Herzegovnia conflict during 1992-1995, it has been stated by the International Court of Justice in 2007 that Bosnian Serbs devised a plan to massacre all military aged Bosnian Muslim men.[18] During that period, it has been estimated that up to 200,000 people were killed, the vast majority being men. During one particular instance in Srebrenica, 8000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered while 25-30k women, children, and seniors were displaced.[19]

There is extensive evidence of selective mass killings of civilian men during the 20th century during other major events such as the Stalin Purges[20], and Bangladesh in 1971. [21] Less is known of the extent of the mass killings of civilian men and boys in relatively smaller conflicts such as those perpetrated by the Boko Haram or Taliban during the 21st century. A couple individual crimes committed by the Boko Haram and Taliban would be the 59 Nigerian boys burned to death while the girls were told to leave and not pursue education [22], and over 100 Pakistani school boys that were massacred while the girls' classrooms were not attacked. [23]

Non-combatant men and boys have been and continue to be the most frequent targets of mass killing and genocidal slaughter, as well as a host of lesser atrocities and abuses.[24]

Sexual violence

Forced castration of men has been widely practiced by societies for several reasons, including payment of debt, cultivated birthright, assimilation, and punishment. Once a man underwent the procedure, he was to be called a eunuch. These individuals were frequently assigned to serve in some domestic capacity. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 21st century BC.[25][26] The practice was conducted by various regimes across Europe, Africa, and Asia until the 19th century, when it was largely eradicated. During the 20th century, many nations began using chemical castration to sterilize mentally ill males & as punishment for male sexual offenders. The practice as punishment is still used by developed nations as of 2015.[27][28][29]

In armed conflict, sexual violence is committed by men against men as psychological warfare in order to demoralize the enemy.[30] The practice dates back to Ancient Persia and the Crusades.[31] International criminal law does not consider gender based sexual violence against men a separate type of offense and treats it as war crimes or torture.[32] The culture of silence around this issue often leaves men with no support.[33] In one study, less than 3% of organizations that address rape as a weapon of war, mention men or provide services to male victims.[34]

See also

References

  1. ^ Felson, Richard (2002). Violence and gender reexamined. American Psychological Association. p. abstract. ISBN 1557988951.
  2. ^ "The Surprising Truth About Women and Violence". TIME. June 25, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  3. ^ "Our attitude to violence against men is out of date". The Telegraph. April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  4. ^ Lewis, Dustin (2009). "Unrecognized Victims: Sexual Violence Against Men in Conflict Settings Under International Law". Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC).
  5. ^ a b Felson, Richard (2009). "When a Man Hits a Woman: Moral Evaluations and Reporting Violence to the Police". Aggressive Behavior. doi:10.1002/ab.20323. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Mouthaan, Solange (2013). "Sexual Violence against Men and International Law: Criminalising the Unmentionable". International Criminal Law Review. doi:10.1163/15718123-01303004. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Hamby, Sherry (2010). "Size Does Matter: The Effects of Gender on Perceptions of Dating Violence". Sex Roles. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9816-0. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Onyango, Monica (2011). "Social Constructions of Masculinity and Male Survivors of Wartime Sexual Violence: an Analytical Review". International Journal of Sexual Health. doi:10.1080/19317611.2011.608415. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Das Dasgupta, Shamita (November 2002). "A Framework for Understanding Women's Use of Nonlethal Violence in Intimate Heterosexual Relationships". Violence Against Women. 8 (11): 1364–1389. doi:10.1177/107780102237408. Retrieved July 2, 2014. (subscription required)
  10. ^ http://time.com/2921491/hope-solo-women-violence/
  11. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (2012). “Militants”: media propaganda
  12. ^ Bernstein, David (2014). Some Israel-Gaza notes.
  13. ^ Jones, Adam (2000). Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2, p. 185.
  14. ^ Ehrenreich, Barbara (1997). Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War, p. 130. Metropolitan Books, New York.
  15. ^ Jones, Adam (2000). Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2, p. 188.
  16. ^ Jones, Adam (2000). Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2, p. 190.
  17. ^ Hammer, Joshua. "On the Trail of the Hard Truth", Newsweek. 9 July 2000.
  18. ^ Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro. 26 February 2007.
  19. ^ Tabaeu, Ewa and Zwierzchowski, Jan (2010). THE 1992-95 WAR IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: CENSUS-BASEDMULTIPLE SYSTEM ESTIMATION OF CASUALTIES UNDERCOUNT.
  20. ^ Jones, Adam (2000). Journal of Genocide Research, 2: 2, p. 188.
  21. ^ Mascarenhas, Anthony (1972). "The Rape of Bangla Desh", p. 116. Vikas Publications, Delhi.
  22. ^ Hemba, Joe (2014). Nigerian Islamists kill 59 pupils in boarding school attack. Reuters.
  23. ^ Campbell, Bradley and Hackel, Joyce (2014). A Pakistani girl survives a Taliban attack on her school by playing dead. PRI.
  24. ^ Human Security Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21st Century, p. 111.
  25. ^ Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Animal and human castration in Sumer, Part II: Human castration in the Ur III period. Zinbun [Journal of the Research Institute for Humanistic Studies, Kyoto University], pp. 1–56.
  26. ^ Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Female Weavers and Their Children in Lagash – Presargonic and Ur III. Acta Sumerologica 2:81–125.
  27. ^ "Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes  :->2006->Ch0794->Section 0235  : Online Sunshine". state.fl.us. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 25 (help)
  28. ^ "BBC News - 'Menace' jailed over child rape and abduction attempt". bbc.co.uk.
  29. ^ "Russia introduces chemical castration for pedophiles". RT. 4 October 2011.
  30. ^ Will Storr. "The rape of men: the darkest secret of war". the Guardian.
  31. ^ Sivakumaran, Sandesh (2007). "Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict". School of Law, University of Nottingham.
  32. ^ "The invisibility of gender violence in International Criminal Law - addressing sexual violence against men and women in conflict". TransConflict. February 18, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  33. ^ "HEALTH: Rape as a "weapon of war" against men". Irin News. 2011.
  34. ^ "Rape as a Weapon of War: Men Suffer, Too". TIME. August 3, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2011.