Author:

Keywords:

Sexual violence, masculinities, gender-based violence

Abstract:

Researchers increasingly acknowledge that men and boys are frequent victims of sexual violence in conflict alongside women and girls. The response in policy and law to this new evidence has nevertheless been uneven. While the visibility of male victims has increased, many policy definitions still reflect limited understandings of conflict-related sexual violence. United Nations policy guidelines that do include men and boys frame them as secondary victims, further perpetuating the idea that sexual violence is essentially a ‘women’s issue’. New definitions fail to take particular typologies of violence targeting males into account, and the inclusion of men does not always lead to their inclusion in follow-up analysis and actions. These new conceptualisations therefore do little to benefit male victims. Similarly, in international criminal law, whilst definitions are more gender-neutral, their interpretation is often left to the discretion of judges and the prosecution, where gender stereotypes and deeply entrenched cultural myths fail to take the experience of males fully into account. A renewed effort and an open perspective towards who can be a victim and what acts constitute sexual violence in both policy and law is advised, as failing to do so will limit our understanding of sexual violence in general.