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Gendercide is a neologism that refers to the systematic killing of members of a specific sex, either males or females.^[1] The term is intended to be sex-neutral, but in mainstream feminism it is mostly used to refer to female victims (feminicide or femicide).^{[citation needed]}

Femicide

Femicide is defined as the systematic killing of women for various reasons, usually cultural. Femicide is seen as a gender crime. The word is attested from the 1820s.^[2]

There have been reports of femicide in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico^[3]. The murders in Juarez, also known as las muertas de Juárez ("The dead women of Juárez"), and Guatemala were reportedly not investigated by the local authorities. Most of the women were raped before being murdered and some were mutilated, tortured and dismembered. In Guatemala City about 20% of the over 500 women murdered in 2004 and 2005 were killed in pairs, due to an (lesbian) "intimate relationship," according to Claudia Acevedo of Lesbiradas.^{[citation needed]}

The most widespread form of femicide is in the form of sex-selective infanticide in cultures with strong preferences for male offspring, notably in the mainland of the People's Republic of China, India, and South Korea. These practices may result in demographic imbalance with an excess of males.^{[citation needed]}

Viricide

Viricide is the systematic killing of men for various reasons, usually cultural. Viricide is seen as a gender crime. Viricide may happen during war to reduce an enemy's potential pool of soldiers.

Perhaps one of the earliest examples of viricide in recorded history occurred some time during the 600s BCE when Ionian pirates massacred the men of Miletus, forced the Milesian women into marriage with them, and settled the city of Miletus in the Milesian men's stead.^[4] It has been written that forever afterward the Milesian women would neither eat with their husbands nor address them by name.^[5]^[6]

The most famed example of viricide in Western literature is recounted in the Book of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible. If modern scholars are correct in establishing the birth of Jesus as around the year 3 BCE, the slaughter would have taken shortly thereafter. Matthew 2:16 states that Herod ordered what is known as the Massacre of the Innocents, which modern scholars note may be apocryphal^[7] rather than an actual historical event:

Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
— Matthew 2:16, New American Standard Bible

In 627 CE, the men and boys of the Qurayza were beheaded by Muhammad^[8] after the tribe surrendered. They condition of the surrender were they would be tried and passed judgement by Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, a chief of their allied tribe of Aws. After asking what the punishment for treason was in Jewish law, all the males were decapitated.

Pakistan targeted male intellectuals for extermination in the erstwhile province of East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) during the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities^[9] Male Gendercide was also carried out by Pol pot in Cambodia, thanks to which a large percentage of Cambodia's present population are women.^[10] During the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots men were targeted overwhelmingly on account of them being breadwinners of the family.^[10] More recents examples include the 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurdish men and boys^[11]^[12]^[13] in Iraq and the Srebrenica massacre of Bosniak men and boys on July 12, 1995.^[14]^[15]

Draft dodgers

Men who refused conscription in the military have been the target of forced labor, mutilation, and massacre in the nations of Angola, Ethiopia and Iraq^[16].

References

^ Coined by Mary Anne Warren in her 1985 book Gendercide: The Implications of Sex Selection[1]
^ 2006 Random House Unabridged Dictionary
^ Femicide and Gender Violence in Mexico, retrieved on May 28, 2007.
^ 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica
^ A History of Greece by Connop Thirlwall, footnote at page 197. Accessed November 12, 2008 via Google Books.
^ The Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick Pg. 238]
^ Gendercide Watch: The Anfal Campaign (Iraqi Kurdistan), 1988
^ Srebrenica Timeline
^ Serbians Still Divided Over Srebrenica Massacre
^ Case Study: Military conscription/ Impressment

External links

Femicide in Guatemala--Guernica Magazine (guernicamag.com)
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Situation of the Rights of Women in Ciudad Juárez (2002) — Report by OAS human rights agency.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Graduate Research "Juarez Mothers Fight Femicide Documentary" (March 2005)
The Economist - No place for your daughters (November 24, 2005)
Lourdes Portillo Video, Señorita Extraviada ISDN 0807861731 2001

[1] Coined by Mary Anne Warren in her 1985 book Gendercide: The Implications of Sex Selection[1]

[2] 2006 Random House Unabridged Dictionary

[3] Femicide and Gender Violence in Mexico, retrieved on May 28, 2007.

[4] 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica

[5] A History of Greece by Connop Thirlwall, footnote at page 197. Accessed November 12, 2008 via Google Books.

[6] The Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick Pg. 238]

[13] Gendercide Watch: The Anfal Campaign (Iraqi Kurdistan), 1988

[14] Srebrenica Timeline

[15] Serbians Still Divided Over Srebrenica Massacre

[16] Case Study: Military conscription/ Impressment

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 |accessdate = 2008-10-26}}
 </ref> after the tribe surrendered. They condition of the surrender were they would be tried and passed judgement by Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, a chief of their allied tribe of Aws. After asking what the punishment for treason was in Jewish law, all the males were decapitated.
-A case of viricide can be found in [[World War II]] with the [[Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs|Nazi killing of Soviet POWs]].  Over a period of about 8 months as part of [[Operation Barbarossa]], between June 1941 and February 1942, the Nazis captured approximately 3.5 million Soviet POWs (almost entirely male) and subjected them to starvation, exposure, disease, and summary execution.  Nearly 2.4 million of these prisoners died.  These deaths were a premeditated part of [[the Holocaust]] (see [[Goering's Green Folder]]).
 [[Pakistan]] targeted male intellectuals for extermination in the erstwhile province of [[East Pakistan]] (present day [[Bangladesh]]) during the [[1971 Bangladesh atrocities]]<ref>Rounaq Jahan, "Genocide in Bangladesh," in Samuel Totten et al., eds., Century of Genocide, p298. R.J. Rummel writes: "By November [1971], the rebel guerrillas ... had wrested from the army control over 25 percent of East Pakistan, a success that led the Pakistan army to seek out those especially likely to join the resistance -- young boys. Sweeps were conducted of young men who were never seen again. Bodies of youths would be found in fields, floating down rivers, or near army camps. As can be imagined, this terrorized all young men and their families within reach of the army. Most between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five began to flee from one village to another and toward India. Many of those reluctant to leave their homes were forced to flee by mothers and sisters concerned for their safety." Rummel, Death By Government (New Brunswick, USA: Transaction Publishers, 1994), p329. </ref> Male Gendercide was also carried out by [[Pol pot]] in [[Cambodia]], thanks to which a large percentage of Cambodia's present population are women.<ref name="Jones">{{cite journal |last=Jones |first= Adam |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2000 |month=June |title = Gendercide and Genocide |journal= Journal of Genocide Research |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages= 185 - 211 |id= |url= |accessdate= 2008-11-09 |quote= }}</ref>