Men scattered throughout Ukraine are helping one another recover from sexual trauma inflicted by Russian troops. These are some of their stories.
Warning: This story discusses sexual violence.
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UN: More than half of Ukrainian sexual violence victims are male
Overwhelming evidence suggests Russia has weaponised sexual violence — such as rape, genital mutilation, forced stripping and other means of torture — against men and boys in Ukraine over the past two years. Under international law, these constitute war crimes.
The latest United Nations Security Council report into conflict-related sexual violence states the investigatory body has documented 263 cases perpetrated by Russian armed forces, law enforcement authorities and penitentiary services against civilians and prisoners of war in Ukraine since the 2022 full-scale invasion. Over half of these victims are male (163); 83 are female. 10 are underage girls, and two are boys.
The person who pointed out that it’s about power has it in one, but if you’d like to learn more about war rape’s use in modern conflicts, Our Bodies Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women by Christina Lamb is an excellent introduction. Despite the title, it does touch on male rape as well, and it gives a comprehensive overview of the ways rape is used as a weapon, as well as the ways survivors recover from it.
(Note: I wish there were more research on the subject for laypeople, focusing on the use of war rape with men, since it shows up throughout conflicts as well - but Lamb’s book was a first. It’s a very recent title, and my hope is that other brave writers will put together more books on the subject.)