Women of War

"Women Confronting War" by Jennifer Turpin is an article on the atrocities of war that focuses on the horrifying effects war has had and continues to have on women around the world. 

Armed conflict has primarily always been a male profession. In Canada for instance, women were not eligible to serve in any combat related trades until 1989. Turpin is not talking about female soldiers though. She is talking about the innocent. The bystanders caught in the crossfire of these deadly testosterone filled conflicts. "Women suffer from war in many ways," she says and she has the proof to back up her statement.

As the old saying goes, WAR IS HELL, and this statement is as true for the civilian as it is for the uniformed combatant. Turpin has some chilling statistics on the casualties of war. Half of the casualties of WW2 were civilians. This means women and children. What is even more appalling is that as the accuracy of our weapons increases, so to does the death rate of civilians. At an alarming rate of almost 10 percent every decade. These are wars that for the most part are started by the western world either directly through military intervention, (see Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam) or indirectly through the exporting of weapons to the developing world, (see the entire continent of Africa).

With death also comes destruction. As their homes and communities turn to ruble, these women are quickly displaced and become fleeing refugees trying to find cover. Turpin points out that more than four-fifths of war refugees are either women or young girls. Some of them mothers just trying to find a way to raise their children safely.

As if these women haven't yet suffered enough, they also become targets for sexual violence. Rape is a disgusting side effect of war that we seem to turn a blind eye toward. Turpin grabs your eyelids and makes sure they are open as you read some statistics on wartime sexual violence. History does not lie and Turpin lists several accounts linking the brutality of war with the hideousness of sexual violence towards women.  Forced prostitution and genocidal rape have and continue to happen to women as I write. These women are surrounded and have no where to turn for help. Even the United Nations peace-keepers have committed these atrocities. We are regularly receiving reports of rape and sexual crimes being committed by the occupational troops stationed in the middle east.

While the conflict continues, the women of war not only suffer in the hands of the enemy. Turpin points to recent research that seems to indicate a rise in domestic violence during times of war. Husbands and sons suffering form Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the sudden availability of dangerous weapons and an increase in the consumption of alcohol are all factors that could play into this. This hits a little closer to home as it is generally the only unique effect that war will have on women living in the western world. Soldiers coming home to their families often have a hard time adjusting back to everyday life here and are often haunted by the horrifying experiences they have lived through.

Turpin covers the most profound and unique effects of war on women. As a male I can't help but feel this article was directed towards me. She wants men to see that these conflicts do not just effect those who choose to fight, but even more so the ones who have no choice at all. In the western world, war is portrayed as a heroic and very macho endeavor. We are seldom reminded of the atrocities that go along with it. This article was a stabbing reminder of the ugliness war brings out in us.  

As women become more involved in politics and decision making on world issues, will we see a decrease in world conflict?

The television made me do it!

After reading "Aggression: The Impact of Media Violence" by Sissela Bok, I was immediately overcome with violent rage and felt a disturbing urge to come to fisticuffs with the first person I saw. This is not true of course. In reality I just felt a little thirsty. What "Aggression" did make me do, however, was think. Does seeing violence on television desensitize my reaction to violence in real life? Bok seems to think so. In fact she argues that the glamorization of violence by the media is in direct correlation to the rise in violent crimes.

At first this idea seems a little silly. I mean we all grew up laughing when Wile E. Coyote perpetually blew himself up trying to catch that pesky roadrunner. We cheered when Hulk Hogan repeatedly smashed Macho Mans face off of the uncovered turnbuckle. We even saw Luke Skywalker get his hand chopped off with a lightsaber (by his own father none the less). We witnessed all this violence but it never made us want to harm anyone ourselves. But then I remembered breaking my arm jumping off of my uncle Bill's bar pretending to be the Ultimate Warrior and giving my cousin a flying elbow drop. Yeah, that sucked. But hey, I was just a kid and you got to learn somehow right.

Well it turns out going through puberty doesn't help. Bok tells of a teenage couple who after watching the cult classic film "Natural Born Killers" by Oliver Stone, went on a murderous rampage as they acted out the story of the fictional psychotic killers Mickey and Mallory Knox. Another and perhaps the most famous case of media enacted violence is of course the assassination of John Lennon by the now ironically famous Mark David Chapman. Chapman of course professing he had been pushed to kill after reading J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye". These are some extreme cases and for the most part are carried out by people who are crazy. right? Well sort of.

Bok refers to psychological studies that show that the more accustomed viewers become to seeing violence, the more they will see violence as being acceptable. The viewer will find ways to identify with the aggressor and develop a lack of pity for the victim. Another study showed that within 10 - 15 years after the introduction of television, the rate of violent social crime nearly doubled.

Another cause for concern is what Bok refers to as an "epidemic of children killing children". She uses statistics to prove this pointing to the fact that homicide is now the second leading cause of death for young Americans between the ages of 15 and 35. For African Americans between 15 - 24, it is the leading cause of death. This of course begs the question. Is all this violence in the media creating actually making us aggressive?

Their are of course other factors that come into play when talking about violence. Gun control, drug abuse and broken homes are a few that come to mind. But Bok's goal is to put onus on the media for their part and she makes her point heard.

The whole time I was reading this, I kept thinking about the grotesquely violent video games kids are playing these day. Grand Theft Auto comes to mind. It is also no secret that the U.S. Military has teamed up with some game makers hoping to convince kids that real combat is as cool as button mashing their controllers. This apparently has worked as they have even put out their own games depicting the ongoing conflicts in the middle east.

Do you think we are dishonoring our Veterans when we create and play video games depicting the atrocities that they had to experience in order to preserve our freedom?