Wandering Jew

The New York Times Sunday Edition today contained both a front page story of sexual violence by Hamas and an insert on Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia. I have wanted to talk about gendered violence for a while. It seems that these abominable horrors seem new to most. Some of the sexual nightmares women in Israel have been subjected to have also occurred and are probably occurring in Ukraine. We noticed for a while, then ignored.

The subject of gender based violence (I will mention but not discuss the sexual violence against men and boys—common discourse hasn’t reached there yet) has been much discussed in the past few decades by scholars.

The scholar Elisa von Jorden-Forgey calls such acts “Life Force Atrocities”

https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1111&context=gsp

as they destroy the very fabric of a society along with the women and girls who are the victims. This article was written in 2010, and discusses the historical sweep (till then) starting with the Armenian Genocide, through the Holocaust, Bosnia, and Africa.

This actions are intentional in their purpose, and are highly effective in their result. For example, ten years ago ISIS committed genocide against the Yazidis. Girls and women were kidnapped and raped. Those women who were rescued were forced to choose whether to return to their society, the price being the abandonment of children born from that violence, or to live as perpetual refugees. Many of these women were young teenagers with no education and no resources.

I am shocked at the fact that most people are shocked and horrified at the existence of such actions. As Americans we tend to be prudish about things, even genocide. If you want to do a deep dive into a small cul de sac, look at what sexually related materials were redacted from the writings of Elie Wiesel from different editions of Night. At his request.

We, the general public, need to recognize the existence of sexual violence in all its forms, against all genders.

Finally, the picture above. I don’t know who this man is. I know nothing about him other than he was apparently drunk and lying next to the deportation monument in Opoczno, Poland in August, 2021 when I took this photo. He may likely be a perfectly decent human. The graffiti was left by not so nice people. This memorial, in an out of the way place, is virtually all that remains of the Jewish presence in this town of hundreds of years. The destruction was complete here.