3. International Conference of the Research Network on “Military, War and Gender/Diversity”; Anne-Laure Briatte (Sorbonne Univ.), Isabelle Deflers (Univ. of the Bundeswehr Munich), Karen Hagemann (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and Gerhard Kümmel (ZMSBw, Potsdam) (Web)
Time: 20.-22.01.2027
Venue: Potsdam
Panels: The Legal Framing of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts | Military Cultures of Sexual Violence | Sexual Violence in Civil Wars | Sexual Violence as Instrument of an Ethnic, Nationalist and/or Genocidal Project | Questions of Recognition and Recollection | Sexual Harassment and Violence in NATO Armed Forces Today
In recent decades, sexual violence has become an increasingly important topic for historians and social scientists researching gender, the military and war. Current studies emphasise that sexual violence in military and war contexts encompasses a wide range of behaviours. Next to rape, these include sexual mutilation, sexualised torture, sexual humiliation, forced prostitution as well as coerced pregnancies and abortions. Although victims of sexual violence are primarily women, commonly portrayed as civilians, they can also be men of any age and may belong to the military themselves. Sexual violence is not only practised by men in the military, but by women too. Research also indicates that sexual violence can fulfill various context-specific functions. Rape has not only been a common practice of victorious soldiers and officers, but also was used by army leaders as a weapon of war or a war strategy. The motives and functions depend on the specific historical context. Also the frequency with which civilians are raped by military personnel has varied considerably over time and in different regions during armed conflicts, as has the way in which it is perceived and remembered. This is why it is crucial to understand the historically changing conditions of violent practices, and to carefully distinguish between public discourse on rape, its representation in art and culture, the use of rape in war propaganda, its regulation in military and state laws, and its place in everyday war practices. The conference will examine the issue of sexual violence perpetrated by military and paramilitary forces, taking a comparative approach across regions and time periods. Our aim is to explore conflicts in Europe, North America and beyond from the Early Modern period to the present day.
Source: HSozKult (Web)

GENDER. Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft
The Research Network on „Military, War and Gender/Diversity“ (MKGD) Online Research Colloquium
Verein für Geschichte der ArbeiterInnenbewegung in Koop. mit dem Literaturhaus Wien/Österreichische Exilbibliothek
Institut Historische Sozialforschung (IHSF) der AK Wien
Fakultätszentrum für transdisziplinäre historisch-kulturwissenschaftliche Studien der Univ. Wien; Dietlind Hüchtker und Friedrich Cain