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Sunday, April 18, 2010

Rape as War



I researched the topic of rape as a weapon of war and wrote a blog by that title. As an act of men this has bothered me to a degree that is becoming a problem. I am having vivid nightmares on this topic. I imagine what is supposed to be the sorts of things that take place, with the result that I wake up sweating during the night.

To make matters worse one of my nightmares had me as a soldier in an army in Africa, and we entered a village where the commander instructed us to herd all the men into a circle and all the women and girls, of all ages were to be arranged so that we soldiers could enjoy ourselves by raping them. We placed the women in the situation that was required, but then not a single soldier proceeded to violate the women. Instead we shot the commander and the captain.

In my own case I dreamt that I was assigned to rape a young virgin. She looked into my eyes with a pleading expression and I saw my sisters and cousins and worst of all, I saw my daughters and granddaughter and my great-granddaughter. How can a man, born of a woman, with sisters and daughters do something so vile?

This raised a very real consideration because when we hear that soldiers raped and pillaged we presume that they did so with gusto. It’s one thing to kill the enemy, even if you are a soldier who doesn’t really believe in the war you are fighting, you nonetheless have to kill, or you will be killed. But to rape someone is a very personal thing. Firstly, as a man you have to have your equipment at the ready, and if your heart is not in the task at hand, the question arises, can you really be expected to perform. This would give new meaning to the phrase: “Conscientious Objector.”

I am having great difficulty in accepting that men are actually doing such horrible things to women. It’s not that I don’t believe they are doing these things, I am having a problem in accepting that they are capable of such depravity. I think it must be necessary to pass out of the state of being a human and into something else. Perhaps a cockroach.

We can’t really say he becomes an animal, because all animals have higher forms of behaviour than that, even the cockroach.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael