War Rape

Michael Boylan

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139342650.015

8 - War Rape

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014

Michael Boylan

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Michael Boylan: Affiliation:
Marymount University, Virginia

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Summary

War rape is one category of denying individuals their level-one basic good of “protection from unwarranted bodily harm.” This chapter examines war rape, in particular, as an instance (in general) of sexual violence against women (though war rape also occurs against men albeit to a much lesser extent). This treatment serves as a paradigm of widespread denial of the most fundamental of all natural human rights: level-one Basic Goods – protection from unwarranted bodily harm.

The Facts in the World Today

From the beginning of time, war rape has existed. The Trojan War occurred on some accounts in the abduction and rape of Helen (wife of Menelaus) by Paris (son of Priam). We remember accounts of the sack of Troy, the rape of the Sabine women, and a few other accounts in the ancient and medieval world (though there are not too many, because it’s not a very comfortable topic for male historians). Michael Walzer reports that Mussolini bought mercenaries from North Africa to fight for him, and part of the deal was total amnesty for war rape. In our current era (the last seventy years), we have seen widespread war rape in World War II by all parties. There have also been documented war rape allocations against combatant troops in Vietnam, the war in Bosnia, and the civil conflict in Rwanda. This is not to suggest that these are the only conflicts in which war rape has occurred. Instead, it is my contention that war rape has occurred in virtually every conflict in the world’s history: international, and intranational. Why is this?

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Type: Chapter
Information: Natural Human Rights
A Theory
, pp. 225 - 233

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139342650.015 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

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