Sexual violence in conflict - ‘the cheapest weapon known to man’
Daniel Nelson
Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict is tough viewing, and some people understandably will not want to see it.
But the Imperial War Museum exhibition manages to spotlight the crime (“the cheapest weapon known to man”) without destroying all hope for humanity - or rather, all hope for men.
The exhibition is sensitive and serious even though the it deals with rape, other forms of sexual assault, sexual threats, harassment and humiliation, forced sterilisation and abortion, sexual slavery and trafficking.
The exhibition is, thankfully, relatively small — otherwise it would be overwhelming — and salutes the work of non-government organisations in evidence-gathering, healing, reinforcing resilience, protesting and forcing acknowledgement of a topic that governments generally cover up: less than a decade ago, this exhibition would not have been presented.
The shocking treatment of captured Yazidi women in 2014 and of Japanese army’s organised sexual slavery (“comfort women”) in the Second World War are two of the case studies, but other conflicts, including in Democratic Republic of Congo, eastern Europe, Gaza, Germany, Sudan (currently in the news again) and Ukraine get dishonourable mentions.
It points out how state-sanctioned sexual violence, militias and power imbalances can lead to unchecked abuses, how sexual humiliation can be used to assert dominance and break morale, that “there’s pretty much no price to pay so accountability is ineffective”, and that “toxic gender norms” are at the root of a lot that is wrong in societies.
Yes, sexual violence in conflict grim and timeless, ancient and continuing (and the exhibition doesn’t even mention recent research on the link between war, violence, and male identity), but at least the unsilencing has begun.
Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict, free, is at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ until 2 November. Info: War Museum