Motives
A study found that female politicians are more likely to experience political violence than male politicians in Sweden, is the motive of this political violence gendered?
Yes, women experiencing more backlash while having political power is motivated by the desire to limit their political power. (Håkansson)
In describing the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, Hansen talks about the use of mass rape as warfare by the Balkans as well as the created security problem that ensued. Hansen uses how the media portrays these mass rapes in Bosnia, as well as using data from the International Crime Tribunal to see how rape was prosecuted in order to investigate how international relations and policies can affect the outlook of rape as warfare. What is the form of political violence that Hansen is studying?
Rape as warfare. Hansen uses three defining terms to represent the opinions of mass rape during the war:
1. Realist representation (rape as normal Balkan warfare)
2. Rape as exceptional/Serbian warfare
3. Balkan patriarchy
Wartime rape and violence against women can cause consequences like demoralization, unwanted pregnancies, traumatization, and fractured families and communities as a result. The reasons for wartime rape and violence may not be to create these things, though they may happen. Are these issues on wartime rape related to Forms, Motives, or Impacts of gendered political violence?
It is an impact of these rapes and not a motive because the motive was unknown. Though, the motive was more than likely to strike fear into the hearts of the community and victims, harm women and the powerless, and win the war or conflict. The impacts of these actions are the aftermath of rape like trauma, demoralization, unwanted pregnancies, and a fractured community even after the wartime rapes and conflict had ended.
Which of the following is not way that political violence can be gendered?
b.) financial cost
Gendered motives refers to whether the violence was motivated by the gender of the victim. This also applies to non-hegemonic men and non-heteronormative men.
Gendered forms refers to if political violence takes different forms depending on the victim.
Gendered impacts refers to whether the impact of the event on the public is affected by the gender of the victim, do people perceive it as a gender targeted attack?
(Bardall, G., Bjarnegård, E., & Piscopo)
In your own words, why is it that distinguishing between forms, motives, and impacts matters when examining political violence and gendered violence issues, even when some of these issues overlap?
Having defined and clear data sets can help researchers, politicians, and the politically active public understand why political violence happens. In which ways do terrorist groups or individuals go about perpetrating this violence? Helps us to see what the impacts on the communities or even the political landscape as a whole are from these violent actions. These data sets and structures also help us understand if violence is gendered or a sign of another issue. It allows communities dealing with these issues to take action steps towards solving the roots of these issues and creating safety structures for not only politicians but the public as a whole. These definitions and research can help significantly just the health and healing of the community in these violent actions are taking place.
After Bolivia passed a law that mandated gender-balance in all national and subnational offices, women municipal councilors began reporting increased threats, harassment, and kidnappings. Is the motive of this political violence gendered?
Yes the increased violence happened after the mandated gender-balance law was passed and the violence disproportionately affected women, so it is likely the political violence was motivated by backlash towards the law. (Bardall, G., Bjarnegård, E., & Piscopo)
Bernot and Davies conducted an experiment in which they explored the effects that surveillance had on social media and in physical spaces on the LGBTQ+ communities in China. They did twenty-six interviews in which they discussed the effects that surveillance in physical and digital spaces had on interviewees. Can surveillance used on media platforms and in public spaces where information is public and easily accessible be found as political violence?
Yes, surveillance by the government can be used as political violence. China used this surveillance data to "sort" different areas of the population and to criminalize some of their activity for their expression of their sexuality. The article further investigates how the LGBTQ+ community is forced to communicate with each other under this pressure of governmental surveillance.
Terror groups often take violent or extreme actions to disrupt elections in the region they are operating in. Like in the case of the 2010 Burundian elections, terror groups bombed many public markets. This overwhelmingly affected women in that area and caused far more female casualties than males, because women traditionally buy and sell food in the markets. What could the impact of these actions be on the community?
Although those markets were full of mostly women, we do not know that the intentions of the terrorist groups were to keep women away from public life, yet this is the impact it had on these women and the communities. As an impact of this event, it was seen as an attack on women, created fear for many women, and caused not just less participation in public life but in political life as well.
true or false: gendered/lgbtq political violence is any political violence against women or lgbtq people
False: women and lgbtq individuals can be victims of political violence without any aspect of the violence being gendered or related to their lgbtq identity.
During the Balkan wars in the early 90s, the Serbian forces mass raped Bosnian women, is the motive of this political violence gendered?
No, the motive was not to limit women’s political or social power but was instead apart of the larger attempt to overtake Bosnia. (Hansen)
There is a certain form of political violence that the state uses in the article discussed by Kollman and Waites in their 2009, that refers to the systemic and institutionalized actions taken by states and societies to suppress and discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals and communities.
(hint: state-sponsored __________)
State-sponsored homophobia.
In the case of Polish MPs refusing to sit near their female, gay, and trans colleagues, their behavior sends the message that LGBTQ +( Lesbain, Gay, Transgender, and Queer) individuals and people who are non-hegemonic males (non-heteronormative and cis males) do not belong in parliament and even politics as a whole. What might be the impact of these politician's actions in parliament?
The intentions of those parliament members may or may not be to harm the community's attitudes towards these members as a whole, but it is to make them as individuals feel left out of their jobs and government. The impact though creates harm not only to the unity of the parliament but to the larger community. It creates a deeper issue of LGBTQ + and women issues as a whole in the community. If their voices are not respected in hard political spaces It can have a lasting impact not just on these individuals, but on the community as a whole. These petty small actions can create a larger scale of harm than even intended.
true or false: men cannot be victims of gendered political violence.
False: men can be victims of gendered violence.
Say there are less women’s restroom’s than men’s restrooms in an American political office, is this gendered political violence?
Likely no, this not an intended action to suppress women politically but is instead a result of a historically patriarchal society. Though you may be able to find scholars that disagree with this. (Bardall, G., Bjarnegård, E., & Piscopo)
Ruby, Eric, Lillian and Hannah decide to go to mirror lake together after class to do homework. While sitting there, a passerby makes a derogatory comment relating to Ruby and Hannah being in a homosexual relationship. Later on, the group finds out that the individual who made the comment was the President of the University. (NOT REALLY DON'T SUE ME)
Do you think this is political violence, and why?
Generally, this can be a form of political violence. Many normally think of political violence as physical force or harm done by a political body. Though, political violence also includes harm done by individuals where there is discrimination, intimidation, or harm done based on a person's identity. There are a couple reasons this is classified as political violence.
1. The statement was made by an authority figure that holds power over the people he made the comment to. This comment has more implications as he represents an institution in which they all attend.
2. He targeted Ruby and Hannah based off of his perception that they were lesbians.
In 2016 Gisela Mota—a Mexican mayor assassinated by drug cartels became cause célèbres for feminist activists looking to demand redress for VAWIP (Violence Against Women in Politics). Throughout recent years male politicians have been assassinated and harmed as well by the cartel in Mexico. Yet, Mexico’s Federal Electoral Court highlighted Mota’s case in their protocol for preventing VAWIP. Why was this action of protecting and examining female politicians' safety concerns around women in politics an impact of the death of Gisela Mota?
Though we see that male politicians and people were attacked by the cartel as well by the means of political violence, the impact of the case of Gisela Mota becoming a case for the protection of female politicians is because despite the motives of the attacker. A woman may not feel able to take the same risks as men in terms of political violence due to their roles in their family or even social norms. This fear may be keeping a woman from running for office. We see this impact as well because of the desire for feminist groups and activists to have a case to latch on to, to further their narratives about violence against women.
true or false: there are no flaws to the LGBTQ human rights movement.
False: While the movement has achieved a lot of good, performing LGBTQ activism from a human rights angle instead of an equality angle may further harm people in situations where they do not have rights socially or legally. (Kollman, Kelly and Matthew Waites)