Politics of Wounding

Despite the formidable challenges in quantifying the extent of sexual vio­lence, there is no doubt that it has blighted the lives of billions of women in the past and today. In some jurisdictions such as South Africa (where ‘jackrolling' or gang rape is considered a game), the extent of rape has been called an ‘unacknowledged civil war'.

The personal harm of rape is undeniable. It is important to note that the destructive effect of sexual violence actually precedes any attack. The fear of rape constrains women's movements and may encourage parents to marry their daughters at very young ages in the (mistaken) belief that husbands will provide some kind of protection. In other circumstances, victims of sexual violence are not even present at the moment of violation. Children born of rape can be stamped with a formidable stigma, often for life.

For the immediate victims - the sexually violated girls, women, boys and men - sexual violence was a scourge that caused suffering for years or decades after the attack. The physical and psychological harms were atrocious. Survivors of wartime sexual abuse routinely found themselves discarded by their own communities, as with the 160,000 women forced to become ianfu (‘comfort woman') from 1937.