My Body’s Not a Weapon
As war has always been a part of human civilization, so has the use of violence against women as a war tactic. Whether it be active war or militarized borders, it’s time to acknowledge rape as a war crime.
When people think of war, they usually imagine a battleground with lots of guns and lots of men fighting. What people do not think about are the wars women fight everyday. Women around the world experience violence in many forms and by many aggressors. Whether it be at a militarized border or during active war time, violence against women is being used as a war tactic. First, war is defined as, “a conflict carried on by force of means, as between nations for power”. In the case of women and the aggressor, they are the nations, and force of means is the manipulation of a woman’s body to gain power. In this article I will give two different examples of how women’s bodies are being used as a weapon of war.
The first example is how women crossing the border into the United States from Mexico are being brutally attacked and assaulted at alarming rates. The US-Mexico border is a breeding ground for violence. The power dynamic being played between the two countries allows for the violation of human rights by both sides. The border patrol workers are given immense power; they can report illegal immigrants for not having papers and send them for deportation. Knowing the power they have, they know they can do pretty much anything and get away with it, which includes raping women. In this context, rape is militarized to reaffirm the power stance the US has. By using the threat of deportation to scare women into complying to sexual acts is a war tactic. In “‘National Security’ and the Violation of Women: Militarized Border Rape at the US-Mexico border” written by Sylvanna Falcon, she explains how rape as a war tactic of Mexican women has been used for many years. Falcon writes, “…in every war, in every military conflict, rape occurs because sexual assault is the arsenal of military strategies; it is a weapon of war used to dominate women and psychologically debilitate people viewed as the enemy”. Women’s bodies are being used as a way to pronounce domination and supremacy. The impact of rape is long lasting emotionally, physically, and mentally. By raping women, the “enemy”/aggressor is able to keep that individual subdued mentally and emotionally for a lot longer than the actual attack.
When these assaulted women try report their attacks, they are often written off or not taken as serious as they should be. One example of this is the story of Juanita Gomez, a woman who was raped by a border patrol officer in Nogales, Arizona 1993. After Gomez reported her attack, the charge got changed from “kidnap and rape to attempted transportation of a person for immoral purposes…while married”. The officer was sentenced to one year in prison, but only served half the time. Rape and battery are not seen as a war crime at the US-Mexico border; it is barely even seen as a crime. With this being the case, there is no one protecting these women from being used as a weapon.
This problem far exceeds the US-Mexico border. In times of war, the use of rape has been used as a way to defeat the opponent. For example, during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, 500,000 women of all ages were raped. In Sierra Leone, 60,000 girls and women were raped during the civil war of 1991–2002. In Liberia, 40,000 women were raped during time of conflict from 1989–2003. Although these statistics are not the most recent ones, it is evident that women have faced an incredible amount of violence during time of war and as a key component of war.
Why is this relevant now? There are thousands of girls and women who are being used and abused now around the world. The civil conflict in Syria is demolishing communities and displacing many families. As war continues all around the globe, so will the use of violence against women as a war tactic. We must recognize it, acknowledge its power, and fight for the women who can not fight for themselves. We must recognize rape as a war crime and recognize the way enacting violence against women is powerful during a time of war. It is time laws begin to protect these women, starting at the US-Mexico border.
