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Rethinking the causes of wartime rape

by Katherine Marino on 10/03/11 at 2:00 pm

Dara CohenConcern about sexual violence in wartime has grown considerably in recent years. However, very little is known about why wartime rape occurs. Common explanations view wartime rape as either a tool of ethnic cleansing or as an act of dominance committed by men against women. Dara Cohen, a political scientist, calls these explanations “very powerful conventional wisdoms,” which do not explain most cases of rape in civil war. Instead, argues Cohen, other factors such as the method of combantant recruitment more fully account for the likelihood that widespread rape will occur in armed conflict.

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