Rape in War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Rape in War - Essay Example The major victims of rape during wars are females of all ages, including young girls and adult women. However, it should be understood that males can also be victims of rape during war. Regardless of the nature of the rape incident, it has long been established that the effects of rape on an individual is of a wide spectrum. Rape general physical harm to an individual, as this action is an intentional violation of the body of the victim. In addition, rape also generates a sense of severe devastation in the victim, resulting in the deterioration of their mental health and their quality of life (Lonar et al., 2006). The damage associated with rape not only affects the victim, but also his or her family. The relatives of the victim often feel bitterness, anger and fear towards to the incident and the perpetrators of the crime, while they feel pity and sadness for their victim. Rape also affects the rest of the social environment of the victim, as they would be fearful of having to exper ience the same violation at any given moment. Rape during wars has recently been considered as a feature of recent clashes between groups and it has been observed that this action can be further classified as either isolated or systematic. In the case of isolated rape cases, its incidence is often equated as to be a less planned incident that could have been performed by a few members of a group that is engaged in a war. The more complex rape cases are considered to be systematic in implementation, as this often involves the intrusion of a group of fighters into a community and preventing any members from escaping the area. Systematic rape during war thus includes the separation of the males from the females and subsequently performing the heinous crime. There are several reasons why rape is now being considered as a weapon of war. Firstly, it should be understood that women are considered as an essential component of every group of individuals. Women are considered as the caretakers of both the homes and the family, thus this gender plays an important role in the upkeep of society. In most cultures, every woman is considered as a partner of a man and thus this individual represents the private life of every man. Performing rape during a war would thus instill a sense of helplessness and failure in the part of the men of opposing group. One of the more serious actions of rape during war is involving performing the action in the sight of captive men. The knowledge of having women and young girls raped is generally hurtful to the men of the community, yet watching this act being performed is even more painful. In some barbaric war incidents, the captive men are usually tied up to render them incapable of moving and the women and girls are raped right in front of these people. Rape is thus used as a weapon of war because this heinous action can inflict pain on individuals, probably equal or even worse than the impact of physical harm. Another possible reason of using rape as a weapon of war is that this action can serve as an instrument in prolonging the suffering of the victims. Wars are often associated with anger of one group against the other. The basis of this disagreement is commonly based on principles of culture, politics or religion. When two groups are at war, the main aim of each party is to inflict harm and pain on