WUNRN
Woman’s Body Is
a Battleground
In
an enlightening class I took last semester, my professor said something that
stuck with me long after the class/semester ended, for it held so much raw
truth. She said:
“The
woman’s body is the battleground upon which cultural and religious wars are
fought.”
Being
a woman in any given society, whether it may be within South/Central Asia or in
the West, there are often triggers of distress and tension, and the constant
battle with one’s image and appearance that plays over and over again in a
woman’s head like a broken record. We live in a world where, right from the
time we are born up until we die, we are told that our body defines us; that
our sexuality should be proscribed – protected; and that we should do
everything in our power to guard our bodies – our honour – from the enemy: men.
And, if we don’t, then the blame falls solely upon us.
While
there are some who manage to break free from this never-ending cycle of
staring, leering, gawking, examining, judging, etc., most women will, however,
be forever stuck in this rut for the majority of their adult lives. The worst
part is that some women have even accepted it – accepted that they, their
bodies, are the reason behind every incident of sexual harassment, sexual
abuse, and all other forms of violence that have been, and will be, inflicted
upon them. It has almost become like an unspoken sort of awareness, where a
woman suddenly realizes how dangerous her body is to her safety. And if she
slips – even once – she will have no choice but to suffer the dire consequences
that accompany it.
Furthermore,
when we look back at history, especially in the context of war and conflict,
women’s bodies have often been treated as territories to be conquered, claimed
and marked by the contender. This is why violence, especially sexual violence,
against women was and still is quite common during communal/ethnic conflicts.
Women would not only be raped but their bodies would be marked in such a way so
as to remind the opposing enemy that their women – who are supposed to
be “pure” and a representative of the community’s/nation’s “honour” – are
stained.
Such
markings would include stripping a woman naked and serenading her in shame in
public; physical mutilation and disfigurement, i.e. cutting off a woman’s
private parts, or other parts of her body, such as her nose, ears, hair, etc.;
tattooing and branding a woman on her private parts, i.e. her breasts and/or
genitals, with hate slogans against the enemy; and other forms of debasements
to emphasize conquest and suppression.
Thus,
the violation of women’s bodies equates the same political territories upon which
the men from the rioting communities would inscribe their markings on. It’s
like an uncanny sort of relinquishment – a victory, where it becomes blatant
that in order to defeat a nation, you must violate their women. Such atrocious
violations against women hence create a sense of helplessness in communities
where a woman’s honour is more important than her life. And in order to revive
this honour, members of the community (usually male) have no choice but to kill
off every single female who was either raped or physically/sexually violated in
any way. For it is known that a woman’s dishonour is the dishonour of the
ethnic race, the community, and the nation as a whole.
Consequently,
the targeting of women’s bodies is both an effect and a cause of the acceptability
of sexual violence against women. It serves to subjugate women further, and
creates an environment where violence becomes habitual and is committed with
impunity. And while there is no denying that the blame often falls upon the
woman for failing to guard her body from being violated, even if it is against
her own volition, an equal burden falls upon the shoulders of men who deeply
value their women’s honour.
I
personally believe that as long as such societies conventionalize the woman as
a symbol of honour and continue to instrumentalize her in such an ignominious
way, gender-based violence in these societies will persist, making any iota of
progress seem bleak.
Even
so, not all societies associate women with honour, despite the fact that rape and
other forms of violence against women still occurs. There are societies,
particularly within the South and Central Asian region, where a woman’s dignity
equates her entire existence as well as the existence of those around her. And
though it is clear that men, too, are targets and victims of violence, it is
the gendered nature of violence that marks women’s experiences as wholly
unique.
*SesapZai
is a PhD student in international rural development, focusing on Gender and
Development of Pashtun women. Article first
published by Justice for Women