The Landscape of Silence: Sexual Violence Against Men in War (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781849042826)

Why is it that men and boys have been and still are violated in human conflict, be it in conventional war, insurgencies or periods of civil and ethnic strife? Above all, why, throughout history, have victims, perpetrators and society as a whole refused to acknowledge this violation, and why do episodes of male-on-male rape and sexual abuse feature so rarely in accounts of war, be they official histories, eye-witness accounts or popular narratives? Is there more to this elision of memory than simply shame? Is there more to it than the victor's desire to violate the enemy body?

Amalendu Misra's startlingly original research into male sexual violence explores the meaning and role of the male body prior to its abuse and how it is altered by violation in wartime. He examines the bio-political contexts of conflict in which primarily men and occasionally women sexually violate men; he details the inadequate legal safeguards for survivors of such events; and in unearthing and analysing an ignored aspect of war, he inquires whether such violence can ever be deterred.


Author: Amalendu Misra
ISBN-10: 1849042829
ISBN-13: 9781849042826
Publisher: Hurst & Co.
Language: English
Published: 08/15/2015
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.70w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2016