Imaginary Battlefield War rape, the extreme consequence of gender hierarchy

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to identify the social structure that sanctions the act of war rape. This by answering the research question; what normative structure is reflected in the meanings attached to the act of war rape? The research design is that of a qualitative case study, with empirical focus on the war rapes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the war in 1992-1995. The analysis is performed as a qualitative text analysis, within the theoretical framework of social constructivism and critical feminism. The analysis shows that the meanings attached to war rape; power, domination and control, used to shame, humiliate and destroy the enemy, have its origin in the constructed gender identities of masculinity and femininity. Hence, in the asymmetrical power relation that constitutes the dualistic gender structure, subordinating femininity. The function of war rape is founded on a gendered hierarchy of power that equals femininity and women with weakness, passivity and objectification, and favors masculinity, equated with power and agency. In conclusion, the use of rape as a weapon of war is the outcome of the in peacetime established sex/gender regime of male domination and female subordination, directing the appropriate behavior of each sex, in accordance with respectively gender identity. Key words: War Rape, Gender, Gender Hierarchy, Rape as a Weapon of War, Bosnia-Herzegovina Words: 19 670