War and Sexual Violence

In the #MeToo era, the scourge of sexual violence in society has come into new focus. It has become clear that women and men have been, and are, victimized to an extent that many had previously not realized. But this invisibility has largely been aided by a history of silencing victims and of impunity for perpetrators. Wartime and military sexual violence has similar patterns of invisibility, silence and impunity. Furthermore, sexual violence in wartime and beyond is a phenomenon that cannot be divorced from broader social, economic and political issues. It is this dual focus on sexual violence itself and its contexualization that lies at the heart of this volume. This volume probes new directions in understanding sexual violence during conflict, as well as analyzing ethnicity, masculinity and their relationships to sexual violence.