Sex, Coercion and Violence

1
Sex, Coercion and Violence

• Force and coercion
• physical assault, PTSD
• non-physical threat of retaliation, economic
  coercion
• Exercise and misuse of power (over women, men,
  children)
• Includes rape, spousal or partner abuse, sexual
  harassment, sexual abuse of children

2
Rape

• any kind of sexual activity committed against
  persons will
• Cross-cultural issues, misconceptions
• Rape is natural
• Rape-prone vs. rape-free societies - 50
• Factors overall violence, male-dominance, rigid
  gender roles
• Rape is about sex
• Individual entitlement
• Collective domination of other men, homophobia,
  honor/shame

3
Rape, cont.

• Political rape
• Context war, ethnic cleansing, occupation
• Purpose make divisions permanent, tactic of
  terror
• Issues of male rape
• Since 1996, a crime against humanity

4
Rape as Tactic of War

• 1948, India/Pakistan partition
• 1971 war to establish Bangladesh
• 1992-95 Bosnia and Balkans
• 1998 Indonesia
• 1990s-present Rwanda, Liberia, Darfur (Sudan),
  Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Represents extreme but logical extension of
  cultural beliefs around sex and gender

5
Sex Trafficking as Sexual Violence

• Prostitution versus sex trafficking, sexual
  slavery
• As profit sector in transnational crime
• As economic migration under false pretenses
• International response
• Trafficking abuse of human rights
• 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act
• Law enforcement targeting johns as rapists