Men scattered throughout Ukraine are helping one another recover from sexual trauma inflicted by Russian troops. These are some of their stories.
Warning: This story discusses sexual violence.
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UN: More than half of Ukrainian sexual violence victims are male
Overwhelming evidence suggests Russia has weaponised sexual violence — such as rape, genital mutilation, forced stripping and other means of torture — against men and boys in Ukraine over the past two years. Under international law, these constitute war crimes.
The latest United Nations Security Council report into conflict-related sexual violence states the investigatory body has documented 263 cases perpetrated by Russian armed forces, law enforcement authorities and penitentiary services against civilians and prisoners of war in Ukraine since the 2022 full-scale invasion. Over half of these victims are male (163); 83 are female. 10 are underage girls, and two are boys.
Ok so let me get this straight. The russians capture men and women and rape them? Is not Russia one of the biggest homophobic countries on earth? I bet it is ok if they are prisoners but if your caught scissoring with a woman or getting fucked by a man who gives a reach around in both of their leisure time is illegal? Russia makes no sense sometimes and they contradict themselves all the time.
It’s like how the right wing in America is incredibly homophobic yet keeps getting caught having gay sex in bathrooms. It’s all projection.
The thing is that these populist politicians are do not have most of the views they are communicating. Many of them might even have very liberal and modern world views. However, the main goal for them is to gain as much power for themselves and their cronies. To achieve that they simply say what their supporters want to hear. The statements of populist are not the statements they believe in, they are the direct reflection of their supporters beliefs.
The person who pointed out that it’s about power has it in one, but if you’d like to learn more about war rape’s use in modern conflicts, Our Bodies Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women by Christina Lamb is an excellent introduction. Despite the title, it does touch on male rape as well, and it gives a comprehensive overview of the ways rape is used as a weapon, as well as the ways survivors recover from it.
(Note: I wish there were more research on the subject for laypeople, focusing on the use of war rape with men, since it shows up throughout conflicts as well - but Lamb’s book was a first. It’s a very recent title, and my hope is that other brave writers will put together more books on the subject.)
