Name: Marcus

Surname: Hollington
Student No. 705513
Course: INTR4010
Lecturer: Jacqueline Ala

Sexual Gender Based Violence Against Men In

Conflict
Introduction
Men and boys have also been sexually abused in conflicts. We dont know the full scale of this
crisis globally and how many have experienced sexual violence precisely because this has been
such a hidden issue. Barbelet 2014

Sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) in conflict is rightfully receiving attention on a global
scale with international institutions such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), Refugee Law Project (RLP) and other organizations providing post-conflict
rehabilitation programs to those who have escaped or survived conflict. These programs seek to
prevent SGBV in conflict prone regions as well as cater for the psychological, emotional and
medical needs of those affected, many of whom are girls and women. This has resulted in a failure
not only by NGOs, but by the international community as a whole to acknowledge male victims
as such due to the stereotypes associated with SGBV which portray women as victims and men as
perpetrators.
Humanitarian organizations have been reluctant to acknowledge SGBV against men as sexual
violence. According to Zotto and Jones (2002, 10) sexual violence against men in conflict
situations is not prosecuted and recognized as such by crime prosecuting structures such as the
International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia which failed to recognize the sexual mutilation and
mass rape of men in the Bosnian war, but rather categorized it as torture.
Moreover, though SGBV against men and boys in conflict is under documented, it is widespread
and quite common with reports coming from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Rwanda, Bosnia and Iraq to mention a few. Yet, very little empirical data exists on the issue.
This essay seeks to explain why SGBV against men and boys in conflict is an important yet
marginalized issue in academia and the international community. It will do this by firstly defining
what is meant by SGBV and in brief, provide reasons as to why such an important issue has been

marginalized in academia, and why it is not prioritized by numerous human rights organizations
and countries in the international community. In doing this, it will argue that SGBV against men
is often under documented as it is highly stigmatized and seen as taboo to talk about.
Additionally, it will provide available statistics on SGBV against men to illustrate the severity and
importance of the issue. It should however be noted that statistics of SGBV against men in conflict
are very limited due to the stigma associated with such forms of sexual violence therefore for the
sake of shedding more light on the scale of the matter it will also use available statistics on SGBV
against men in times of peace. It will then illustrate the aftereffects of SGBV against not only men
but boys as well. In this section aftereffects will not be limited to conflict situations but to the
domestic ones as well, as majority of boys are sexually victimized in households not conflict.
Furthermore this essay will illustrate ways in which human security is a highly gendered issue and
how this affects the under recognition and prosecution of SGBV against men in the international
community. In doing this, it will provide an analysis of international law namely; international
humanitarian law and international criminal law and how they affect the recognition and
prosecution of SGBV against men in conflict.
Lastly this essay seeks to critique a feminist perspective of SGBV against men in conflict and how
its exclusive focus on women renders men invisible victims of sexual violence in feminist literature
and activism.
Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV)
Sexual Gender Based Violence/SGBV is a tactic used to dehumanize, humiliate, dominate and
displace communities; resulting in but not limited to sexual, physical and psychological harm to
the victims (United Nations 2008). It is usually targeted at women but recent research has shown
that similar tactics have been used against men in conflict as a way of destroying their social
position in society, however this research is limited for reasons that shall be discussed in depth
later in this paper (Refugee Law Project 2008).
Though not extensively documented Ehrenreich (1997) states that SGBV against men is as old
as history itself. Evidence of this can be found in ancient Persian records that graphically describe
how Persian warriors cut off the penises of their enemies after emerging victorious from war (Del
Zotto & Jones 2002, 2) as a show of power and intimidation to all those that dared defy them.

More evidence can be found in the war records of Mesoamerica that show how Mesoamerican
warriors defiled their male enemies by making them their sexual partners or wives (Marinussen
2010, 23). However, these practices slowly became obsolete when religions such as Christianity
and Islam became institutionalized in society and with them, anti-homosexual laws that
condemned homosexual acts from taking place in war and in the domestic sphere (Del Zotto &
Jones 2002, 2). Those that continued to practice SGBV against men did so in secret.
In more contemporary times, the sexual victimization of men by other men in conflict is present
though practiced under the radar. An example of this can be that of Acholi men who were sexually
violated by Musevenis National Resistance Army (NRA) in 1986 after capturing the Ugandan
state as a demonstration of power and dominance, to show the Acholi men that they had totally
conquered them (Ogora 2015). They not only raped the men but their wives and daughters as well,
undermining their ability to defend themselves and their loved ones (RLP 2008). Such acts of
violence emasculate the victims; that is to say empower perpetrators through the victimization and
domination of their enemies.
These acts of violence were a direct attack on the sexual identity and masculinity of the men and
sought to destroy any form of social influence that they had in their households and society at large
(Oosterhoff, Zwanikken & Ketting 2004, 77). Many of them lost the respect of their society and
loved ones, as they were turned into de facto females through their sexual victimization by other
men and had to flee the country due to the stigma associated with male rape. It can be argued that
by feminizing Acholi men through rape the NRA got a sense of personal satisfaction, boosting
their hegemonic masculinity while the victims lost theirs. Like most African societies and other
societies worldwide, Uganda is a highly patriarchal country whose cultural barriers do not
recognize male-on-male rape and categorize same sex rape as a homosexual act punishable by
imprisonment, police and mob brutality as well job loss (Amnesty International 2014). It is due
to these reasons that the majority of men who have been sexually victimized in conflict choose to
keep to themselves about their ordeals because revealing them may result in massive stigma from
society.
In almost every society men are considered to be providers and protectors, it is their utmost
characteristic that gives them significance in society; once this characteristic is compromised
through male inflicted rape they no longer feel the same. It may be argued that the moment men

get raped by other men their manhood is automatically taken away from them, alienating them
from the male sexual category, in other words leaving them in a state of confusion on whether they
can still consider themselves men or not. For example, according to Storr (2011) women who find
out that their husbands have been raped often leave them on the basis that they no longer know
what sexual group they belong to. In an interview carried out by Storrs (2011) Refugee Law
Project informant Salome Atim, the wives of the husbands who have been raped often ask her:
'So now how am I going to live with him? As what? Is this still a husband? Is it a wife?'
They ask, 'If he can be raped, who is protecting me?'

Further reinforcing the stereotype that men cannot be sexually victimized. Similar events also took
place in the Bosnian civil war between 1992-1995, where men belonging to the Muslim ethnic
group were raped by the Bosnian Serb Army as part of a genocidal ethnic cleansing mission by
the Serbs (Vetlesen 2005, 197), like the Ugandan case the aim of the perpetrators was to degrade
and humiliate their enemies by showing them that they were inferior to them and not capable of
defending themselves at the hands of their perpetrators. Based on this evidence it is clear that
sexual gender based violence is not a phenomenon that is solely experienced by women alone but
by men as well. Therefore one would expect that SGBV against men would be publicized and
documented by academics and the media to expose the atrocities suffered by men in conflict;
however this is not the case as both the media and academics fail to explicitly document the issue
as it is seen as taboo.
Additionally, NGOs and humanitarian organizations also play a role in the under documentation
of SGBV against men. According to Stemple (2009), a review carried out by Del Zotto and Jones
(2002) found that only 3 percent of 4076 NGOs that address political, domestic and wartime sexual
violence addressed the sexual victimization of men in conflict as a passing statement showing how
lightly NGOs and humanitarian organizations take the victimization of men in conflict. What's
more, in a roundtable attended by humanitarian activist Veronique Barbelet (2014) on SGBV
against men she was surprised to hear how reluctant humanitarian organizations were about
including men and boys in gender based violence statistics as victims. This is typical of NGOs and
humanitarian organizations as they view men as perpetrators of gender based violence and not
victims of it, it is due to this stereotype that male victims all over the world have been excluded

from post-conflict rehabilitation programs offered by international institutions and humanitarian

organizations that fail to acknowledge men as victims of SGBV.
One such an organization is the United Nations which restricts its post-conflict rehabilitation
programs to women. For example according to Storr (2011), the Refugee Law Project (RLP)
reported a case of one Ugandan man whose case was so bad that he had referred to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to receive aid only to be turned back on the
basis of his gender as the UNHCR does not offer rehabilitation programs to men. Some justify this
by arguing that the majority of SGBV victims are women therefore it is only logical that priority
be given to them as including men in rehabilitation programs may draw resources from women
(RLP 2010). However, this causes more harm than good, not only for men but for women as well.
Disregarding SGBV against men not only neglects men, it also harms women by reinforcing a
viewpoint that equates female with victim', thus hampering our ability to see women as strong and
empowered. In the same way, silence about male victims reinforces unhealthy expectations about
men and their supposed invulnerability.
However, it should be noted that NGOs, academics, media and humanitarian organizations are not
the only ones to blame for the poor documentation and acknowledgement of SGBV against men
because men themselves namely victims of SGBV are equally to blame as they do not always
report their victimization making it difficult to understand the full scale of the matter.
The next section will provide available statistics on SGBV against men to illustrate the importance
of the matter and why it should be prioritized by the international community.
Statistics
Statistics on SGBV against men in conflict situations are very limited due to the stigma associated
with such sexual forms of violence, therefore the statistics provided in this section are just the tip
of the iceberg. The exact number of men who have been sexually victimized in war may well be
over the thousands. It must therefore be noted that these statistics are not a true reflection of the
exact number of men who have been sexually victimized in conflict.
Statistics on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) demonstrate how SGBV in conflict
situations also affects men. According to Kirsten (2010, 558), 23.6 percent of four hundred and
five surveyed men stated that they had been sexually victimized in their lifetime, 64.5 percent of

them stated that they had experienced it in the context Congos civil wars. Ironically not only men
perpetrated these acts but women as well, many of whom were military combatants.
In Colombia 650 cases of SGBV against men have been recorded in the context of the countrys
conflict and are said to have taken place from the early 1990s to early 2000s. Many more cases of
SGBV against men are said to have taken place in Colombia however due to the stigma around
the issue many victims are scared of coming forward in fear of being ostracized (Moloney 2014).
The highest record of SGBV against men in conflict to be ever recorded is that of the Bosnian
conflict 1992-1995, in which 4000 men reported being raped by soldiers at a concentration camp
in Sarajevo (Lewis 2009, 10)
Furthermore, in a research carried out by Johnson et al. (2008) on ex-combatants in Liberia, 32.6
percent or 367 male ex-combatants reported being sexually victimized by enemy soldiers and
rebels during the Liberian conflict. According to an article written by Cottee (2014), boys all over
the Middle-East haven been sexually exploited for pleasure by ISIS and soldiers with Brig. Said
Nazeer a former Pakistani military commander stating that boys more especially good looking
ones have been sexually victimized by soldiers from as early as 1979 till present. Though the exmilitary commander does not provide any statistical data on the number of boys that have been
sexually victimized by soldiers in Pakistan one does get a picture on how widespread the SGBV
against males is.
Additionally, according to a documentary entitled Gang of degenerates aired by Sterk Tv in
2014 over 20 men reported being raped by ISIS as a rite of passage and that the rape is videotaped
as a way of ensuring that new recruits participate in terrorist activities or risk being exposed to the
world (Cottee 2014).
While not a perfect comparison, SGBV against men in times of peace may further shed light on
the magnitude of the phenomena. According to Lewis (2009, 11), 15 percent of men in the United
States are victims of sexual violence and approximately 2.78 million of them have been sexually
victimized in their lifetime. Lewis (2009) also states that further evidence of SGBV against men
has also been documented in England where police records show that men constitute 7.5 percent
of all rape cases that have been reported in the country.

Based on the above statistics it is clear that the scale of sexual violence against men in both conflict
and times of peace is tremendous and needs to be treated and prosecuted in the same manner in
which sexual violence against women is treated and prosecuted by the international community.
After effects
Men and boys who have been sexually victimized suffer tremendous physical and psychological
damage pre and post conflict. According to a study carried out by Johnson et al. (2008) in Liberia,
men who have been sexually victimized in conflict report having symptoms of post-traumatic
stress disorder while some report having attempted suicide as a way of escaping the reality of their
victimization. Some victims report losing respect for themselves post victimization. For example
according to Barbelet (2014), male survivors of the Chad civil conflict that took place between
2005 and 2010, report that their sexual victimization left them feeling powerless and as lessor
men as they had failed to defend themselves from the sexual violence perpetrated onto them by
other men, and often felt as if they had lost the respect of their communities, wives and even respect
for themselves.
In addition, some men find reintegration into the community difficult as society may no longer
view them the same, especially in situations where the victim has been forced to sexually victimize
his loved ones, such as the case of the Rwandan genocide were the Hutus forced Tutsi men into
sleeping with their sisters, daughters and grandmothers as a way of destroying family and
communal bonds (Human Right Watch 1996). This may lead victims into succumbing to suicide
and post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, it is believed that people in society tend to spread
false truths about how men who have been sexually victimized end up becoming victimizers
themselves (South Eastern CASA 2016). Such myths have devastating effects to the victims state
of mind as they are often treated like criminals instead of victims due to societal perceptions of
rape and how it affects male victims.
Moreover, men who have been sexually victimized tend to abuse alcohol and drugs as a way of
dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. An example of this can be that of sexual victimized
Congo men living at Kyangwali refugee camp in Uganda who drink alcohol all day as a way of
forgetting their problems (Refugee Law Project). Last but not least men who have been sexually
victimized in conflict often get infected with HIV/Aids and find it difficult to live a healthy life
due to the hazardous nature of the disease.

For boys, SGBV in conflict and domestic situations promotes behaviors that are known to be risky
for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/Aids as adults (Etienne G. Krug et al, 2002).
They are also more likely to commit rape either as teenagers or adults (Siegal & Williams 2003,
78).
Human security as a gendered phenomena
Human security is a highly gendered issue that prioritizes the recognition of women and girls as
victims of SGBV while men are excluded from the victim category and are not subjects of
protection (Carpenter 2006, 84). According to Brabandt and Del Zotto (2002) it is only after 1991
that Western states such the U.S and the U.K started recognizing SGBV in conflict situations as a
criminal offense in their foreign policy statutes. The acknowledgement and addressment of rape
and other forms of sexual violence in conflict is a fairly recent development is human rights and
security, which owes its existence to women movements that advocate for the protection of women
from sexual violence in both conflict and domestic situations (Sivakumaran 2005, 1278). These
movements have contributed to the definition reforms of rape, punishment of SGBV and the
inclusion of SGBV in the Rome-statute of the ICC (Askin 2003, 292). The role that women
movements have played in the awareness of GBV and efforts to stop it are evident in the
introduction of the UN General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against
Women (United Nations 1993).
It is an inarguable fact that these movements have played a role in the acknowledgement of SGBV
in conflict as a crime, however in doing so they unconsciously excluded men and boys from being
recognized as victims of SGBV making human security in conflict situations a highly gendered
issue (Del Zotto and Jones 2002, 8). Consequently, SGBV against men as victims of genocide,
human rights violations, crimes in warfare and crimes against humanity, often go unnoticed,
unprosecuted and unpunished by international crime prosecuting structures such as the ICC and
various tribunals; and if they do prosecute, it is done so leniently (Lewis 2009, 1). An example of
this can be that of United States soldiers that raped Iraqi children in front of their mothers at Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq as a military torture tactic to get information out of them (De Nugent 2015).
Till this day no written records of the soldiers being punished or prosecuted for their actions exist
as a result of the failure by international crime prosecuting structures to recognize the rape of men
and boys in conflict situations as such but prefer recognizing it as torture. An example of such a

structure is International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) which clearly articulates the
rape of men in conflict situations as torture under articles two and five of the ICTY statute (ICTY
1993). It is only recently that SGBV against men has received any major attention from the
international community in multinational conventions and international tribunals (Lewis 2009, 1),
with high-level events such as the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflicts taking place
in 2014 (Barbelet 2014).
However, discussions on SGBV in conflict tend to overwhelmingly focus on women and girls as
victims and men as perpetrators. This is because International law, despite of all the cases of SGBV
against men that have been reported globally does not completely understand and recognize the
fact that men too can be victims of SGBV in conflict situations (Lewis 2009, 1). It is thus clear
that if SGBV against men in conflict is to be fully recognized by the international community,
efforts to make International law understand the severity and importance of the matter should be
taken swiftly as this could change global perceptions of the matter into one that is fully recognized
by the international community and punishable accordingly by international law.
This section serves to illustrate how international law is structured in such a way that excludes
men and boys from being recognized as victims of SGBV in conflict. It will focus on two
subcategories of International law; namely criminal law and humanitarian law. In the context of
international law, criminal law refers to rules that forbid international crimes that force states to
punish and prosecute some of the criminal offences, and regulate certain procedures used to
prosecute the accused (Lewis 2009, 2). Humanitarian law in the context of international law refers
to laws and customs which seek to limit the effects of armed conflicts for humanitarian reasons
(Marinussen 2010, 37). It seeks to protect people that no longer participate or contribute directly
to conflict and to restrict conflict/war by making it difficult for people to access means of warfare
(Red Cross 2014, 1)
According to Lewis (2009, 2) humanitarian law does not provide adequate legal frameworks to
protect men and boys who have been affected by SGBV as mechanisms of global human rights
exclude men and boys from the victim category of sexual violence (Lewis 2009, 2). These
mechanisms assume that only women can be victimized sexually. This problematic perception of
SGBV is deeply engraved in global perceptions of sex and gender at both the domestic and
international level as well as in our international human rights and crime prosecuting structures

that make it seem as if SGBV is something that is solely/exclusively experienced by women not
men. As a result, men are excluded from the victim category of sexual violence and have more or
less zero chances of using global human rights mechanisms to protect themselves from such
atrocities. They however have a better chance of justice in international criminal and humanitarian
mechanisms, of which even that is limited as it will be illustrated in the next few paragraphs.
It is not until recently that rape in conflict situations was regarded as inevitable consequence of
warfare and was often seen as collateral damage. The 1863 Lieber Code of the United States is
said to be the first written text of military conduct that explicitly stated how soldiers were to behave
in warfare and refrain from using sexual violence/rape or any other form of violence as a weapon
of war against unarmed civilians during conflict situations (Lieber 1863). Three articles in the code
enforce this namely; article twenty-two, thirty-seven and forty-four. Article twenty-two provided
protection not only to women but to men in conflict situations by stating that, the honor of an
unarmed civilian should not be damaged, as much as the exigencies of war will permit (Lieber
1863, art 22) meaning that no action that could harm the honor of unarmed civilians could be taken
against them, as doing so would be regarded as unlawful. Article thirty-seven provides protection
to women by linking soldiers to the sacredness of family/domestic relations so that they would not
harm women and children while fighting the enemy in foreign lands as it is was not part of their
mission to invade or meddle in the domestic affairs of unarmed civilians (Lieber 1863, art 37).
Article forty-four clearly instructs soldiers not to rape, wound or kill civilians in war, it also
emphasizes troop discipline by stating that all those that would dare break the instructions would
be put to death on the spot by their commanding superiors (Lieber 1863, art 44). This article is sex
neutral in its terminology, therefore protects not only women but men from being sexual victimized
or raped in conflict. However, forty-four years later the Lieber code would be replaced by the
Hague Regulations of 1907 that no longer recognized rape as a violent crime (Convention
Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land 1907). It was now characterized as a violation
of family honor and rights under article forty-six of the regulation and no serious punishment
such as that mentioned in article 44 of the Lieber Code accompanied it making rape an issue that
was open to abuse in conflict (Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land
1907, art. 46). One could argue that it is from this point onwards that human security in
international law became a gendered issue.

A few decades later the London and Tokyo Charters, 1945 and 1946 respectively; downplayed
rape and sexual violence by referring to it as ill-treatment (International Military Tribunal 1945,
art. 6(b) & Charter for the International Military Tribunal for the Far East 1946, arts. 5(b)-(c)).
From the chronological illustrations of how rape/sexual violence has been treated over the last two
centuries it is clear (with the expectation of the Liber Code) that rape has not been treated as an
issue of extreme importance by the international community. It should however be noted that the
Tokyo Tribunal has prosecuted some rape cases. However the number of rape cases prosecuted by
the tribunal are not significant enough to be considered as an achievement and most of them
involve the rape of women not men proving the gendered nature of human security.
On the other hand, Control Council Law No. 10 a law adopted in Germany 1945 to prosecute
offenders whose war crimes had not been tried by the Nuremberg Tribunal. The law provides a
comprehensive list of articles that stipulate how war crimes and crimes against humanity should
be prosecuted. Rape and sexual violence fall under the crimes against humanity category (Telford
1949). While no offender was actually prosecuted under the law, academics argue that this law
established three important developments related to SGBV in international criminal law. Firstly
rape was now recognized as a war crime and could be prosecuted as such under international
criminal law. Secondly any SGBV offences perpetrated during times of peace could be prosecuted
as crimes against humanity. Lastly military officials holding key positions in the army could no
longer be considered immune from the crimes committed during conflict. They too could be held
accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
These three developments are evident in the fourth installment of the Geneva Convention of 1949
which explicitly discusses the protection of civilians during armed conflict. It protects civilians
from rape, genital mutilation, forced prostitution and other forms of sexual violence under article
twenty-seven (Geneva Convention IV 1949, art. 27). The scope of this article is however limited
to women and girls and excludes men and boys from the victim category (Lewis 2009, 23).
However the pro-female connotations of article twenty-seven of the fourth Geneva Convention
were rectified by protocols I and II of 1977 which serve as reaffirmations of the 1949 Geneva
Convention. These protocols improved the protection of civilians from SGBV in conflict. For
example Protocol I article seventy-five and protocol II article four are inclusive of both sexes as

they use sex neutral terminology to prevent all forms of SGBV that seek to humiliate, dehumanize
and degrade both women and men in conflict (Geneva Convention IV Protocol I 1977, art. 75)
According to Mitchell (2005, 239) articles seventy-five and four of protocols I and II respectively,
do away with the stereotype that only women are exclusive victims of SGBV, which is true given
that the articles are not sex specific about the gender they protect meaning that they protect both
genders in times of war. The ICC is another structure that provides sex neutral terminology on
SGBV crimes. This is evident in article seven of the Rome Statute of the ICC which states that
gender refers to both sexes in society (Rome Statute of the ICC 1998, art 7).
However it should be noted that while international structures such as tribunals, ICC and the United
Nations recognize and prohibit rape as a peremptory norm, the majority of the cases that have been
recognized and prosecuted involve the rape of females (Mitchell 2005, 256). Solidifying the fact
that human security especially that involving SGBV is a highly gendered issue. Nonetheless, the
United Nations holds the belief that humanitarian law also provides protection against SGBV to
men and boys (United Nations 1994). This can be greatly argued given that there have been so
many reports made by male victims of SGBV in conflict situations who have been turned away by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees due to the fact that it does not provide postconflict rehabilitation programs to men (Storr 2011).
Furthermore, there have been reports by the Refugee Law Project/RLP that state that in November
2006 following a conference on East African SGBV the United Nations wrote a report in which
certain members of stuff responsible for the report, insisted that definitions of rape be limited to
women (Storr 2011), further solidifying the gendered nature of human security irrespective of
what the United Nations might say.
In sum, the articles and protocols of the Geneva Convention IV as well as the Rome Statute of the
ICC and the United Nations sound impressive on paper, but very little has been done to implement
them and when they do get used its usually to the benefit of women not men. As clearly illustrated
in the first two sections of this paper there is significant number of men and boys that have been
sexually victimized globally yet the very structures designated to tackle such cases turn the other
way when cases of SGBV against men in conflict arise. Based on these arguments it can thus be
said that international humanitarian law and criminal law do not provide adequate protection to
men and boys due to gender stereotypes that perceive men as perpetrators of violence and not

victims of it whether it be physical or sexual; and women as victims of all forms of violence in
conflict situations more specially sexual violence.
Feminist perspective
Feminism has played a significant role in the construction of sexual gender based violence/SGBV
in armed conflict, which is solely dependent on feminine-identity (Del Zotto & Jones 2002, 1-2).
An array of works on SGBV against women has been written by feminists, hence a significant
amount of theory has been documented in this area of research. Feminist scholars and activists
have for the longest time advocated for the awareness and prosecution of rape in conflict situations
due to the number of rape cases that have been reported in conflict and have received a significant
amount of attention from the international community, with the UN Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women (United Nation 1993), being adopted and implemented
by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 as a result of feminist activism.
However though feminists have been on the forefront of the battle against the sexual victimization
of civilians in conflict, it should be noted that they have not been entirely inclusive of men and
boys as potential victims of sexual violence as they often pass reference of their victimization
without making any serious attempts to research and document the issue further (Del Zotto & Jones
2002, 8). Reasons for this can once again be traced back to gender stereotypes of victimization
which are of the view that men can only be perpetrators of sexual violence and not victims of it.
The same is evident in feminist perceptions of SGBV which also view men as perpetrators of
violence and women as victims. Two feminist approaches substantiate this argument namely;
essentialism and structuralism. The essentialist view holds that women and girls in conflict
situations are victims of SGBV as a means of asserting militaristic masculinity in soldiers
(Skjelsbk 2001, 216). It is believed that this practice instils fight and aggression in soldiers
making them fight better and win wars (Leaning & Gingerich 2005). The structuralist view holds
that the sexual victimization of women in conflict is used a strategy to attack the victims culture,
religion, nationhood and ethnicity (Skjelsbk 2001, 218).
It emphasizes the linkage of SGBV to gender and identity. Women are victimized as a way of
harming the identity of men and exerting power over them through the sexual victimization of
their women. For example according to a documentary shot by the Refugee Law Project titled

Gender Against Men, men whose wives had been sexually violated by rebels in the Democratic
Republic of Congo state that their identity as men was compromised as they failed to protect their
wives from the rebels (Refugee Law Project 2010).
These two approaches focus on biological characteristics of gender as a way of differentiating men
and women as perpetrator and victim respectively. They emphasize the idea that men are powerful,
aggressive beings that sexually victimize innocent, fragile women who are dependent on men for
protection. Such feministic approaches of SGBV make it difficult for men and boys to be
recognized as victims of sexual violence as they are exclusively seen as perpetrators of violence
and not recipients of it. As strange as it might be there have been cases where women have
reportedly abused men. For example according to Cohen (2013, p.385) female soldiers in Liberia
have carried despicable acts of violence against men such as genital mutilation. It is therefore
imperative that feminist approaches of SGBV acknowledge the fact that women too can be
perpetrators of violence against the opposite sex and not victims of it.
However, there is one feminist approach that is inclusive of both women and men as victims of
SGBV in conflict. This approach is known as social constructivism which holds that women in
conflict situations are sexually victimized as a way of emasculating the perpetrators identity and
feminizing that of the victim (Skjelsbk 2001, 225). It emphasizes that SGBV is about power and
dominance, not biology. In other words the identity of victims whether it be political, religious, or
cultural is feminized, irrespective of gender. This approach is useful in the inclusion of men and
boys in SGBV in conflict and could be used by feminists and academics in general to research
SGBV against not only women but men as well. It acknowledges that anyone can be a victim of
sexual violence in conflict regardless of gender.
In sum, with the exception of the social constructivist approach of SGBV, feminist perspectives
of SGBV provide an exclusive focus on women as victims of sexual violence in conflict situations
and men as perpetrators, rendering men invisible victims of sexual violence in feminist literature
and activism.

Conclusion
It is clear that men and boys are as much victims of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) as
women are. However, unlike their female counterparts men and boys are excluded from the victim
category due to societal stereotypes present in both the national and international sphere which
suggest that men cannot be victims of sexual violence as they have the ability to defend themselves.
These stereotypes as illustrated in the paper have resulted in the under-documentation of SGBV
against men by academics, media and international institutions such as the UNHCR and the United
Nations as a whole which have resulted in a failure by international law instruments such as
international humanitarian law and international criminal law to acknowledge and prosecute
SGBV perpetrated against men by men. Consequently this has had a trickledown effect on
tribunals and humanitarian organizations worldwide that have unfairly dismissed or rather turned
a blind eye on thousands of male victims that have been sexually victimized in conflict and have
not been integrated into post-conflict rehabilitation programs due to stereotypes of SGBV perceive
men as perpetrators of sexual violence, not victims of it.
It is therefore imperative that as the international community gives more attention to sexual and
gender based violence, it must do so in a manner that is gender blind and not only prioritize and
address the sexual victimization of women but that of men as well. International institutions and
humanitarian organizations should not make assumptions in human rights advocacy and
international law documents such as the UN General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence Against Women, which suggest that SGBV only affects women; rather international
human rights law and international criminal law should be structured in such a way that is inclusive
of both sexes and avoid having double standards when it comes to addressing SGBV against men
in conflict. Lastly society and the international community at large must do away with harmful
masculine norms that have made the sexual victimization of men a taboo topic.

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