Home Institution
Washington University in St. Louis
Publication Date
Spring 2024
Abstract
In enacting war and terrorism, armed combatants frequently and deliberately utilize sexual violence to target civilians. This crime is widespread, systemic, and organized, and its perpetration against vulnerable populations is a haunting reality of warfare. Although scholarship has speculated about the motivations behind conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), no one answer is sufficient to grasp a phenomenon whose constitution is complicated by a multitude of variables. Thus, scholars must continue in their efforts to rationalize why this crime takes place. This article does just that. Drawing from Jasbir K. Puar’s book The Right to Maim (2017), I fashion an intervention to her theory of “debility”—which speaks to the bodily harm wreaked upon those designated available for injury—to demonstrate how a disability framework can unearth new understandings of CRSV. This article advances three main contentions: (1) CRSV is argued to be an instrument of debility wielded by states against their so-called enemies, (2) a link is established between CRSV and disability, and (3) a disability framework is proven to be an effective tool in the study of CRSV.
Disciplines
Disability Studies | Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence | International Relations | Military, War, and Peace | Peace and Conflict Studies | Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance
Recommended Citation
Camille, Jeffrey, "On Puar’s “Right to Maim”: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence as an Instrument of Debility" (2024). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 3765.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/3765
Included in
Disability Studies Commons, Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Commons, International Relations Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons
Program Name
Switzerland: International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy