War and Feminism

War is a part of the human life that truly is horrific no matter how it is analyzed. It impacts the lives of people everywhere, no matter what their gender, race, age, or any other characteristic is. However in most cases it is women, young children and seniors that experience the largest impact of war. The very essence of war itself is purely competitive and aggressive, this kind of attitude stems in men, generally speaking. Genders construction of war is mainly based on masculine traits such as testosterone and how it affects the cognitive process in men, and emotional linkage between winning and losing. Gender also plays an important role in the engagement of people in war. This can be a negative or positive statement a negative position would be how sexual violence is a war tool being used by primarily men. This kind of "tool" has no positive influence what so ever and shows just how the role of gender in the engagement of war is negative. However due to wars like World War One and World War Two, while men were over seas fighting women were now needed to fill their places in the work force. This was one of the main contributors to how many women work in society even today. To create an ideal "utopian society" the aggressive attitude towards war and all its components must be erased; in order to accomplish these goals males in general must be removed from the top of the hierarchy. Women in the roles of men in the military and politics will have a direct impact on how and why wars will be fought. This will create a society that can resolve conflicts using other resources such as negotiation or appeasement.

Men have an abundance amount of a certain hormone called testosterone. This hormone is also found in women; however their amounts of testosterone are small and insignificant. The levels of testosterone in men can rise during times of highly masculine activity, especially things like competition. Interactions between males also affect how these levels differ; men will fight over different aspects such as status and territory. The winner of this "fight" will have a higher level of testosterone compared to the loser. Studies have shown that testosterone levels will depend on the subjective judgments about a triumph or defeat. In other words, it is a cognitive and emotional trigger that creates testosterone levels to increase or decrease. This proves how men are a main part of the construction of war. Men have the instinctive response to compete and win, their aggression is a huge factor of why peace is not the alternative to problems. Men are shown to have motive for war, it is a competition, and they are presented with a problem that needs to be fixed. The only solution is to win, winning is what keeps their circle of testosterone going; it is a animal instinct to win. Wars must be won; they can't be negotiated or given up on. This kind of stigma that is associated with the large population of males proves why they continue to fight wars that really don't need to be fought.

Gender plays an active role in the engagement in war by the differing ways war is enforced. An example of this would be the use of rape and sexual violence. Men use this kind of violence to show superiority and dominance, especially to the women and children that they have conquered during war. "Rape is an attack on the physical, psychological, sexual and social integrity of the survivor. It is an act of violence and abusive power, but has no connection with sexuality. Sex is chosen by the perpetrator as the most intimate, sensitive and vulnerable of areas, where he can inflict the greatest hurt or humiliation on the women or girl"Ð'â„- this quote demonsrates very vividly just how rape is used an how it is interpreted by outsiders.

1- Marijana Senjak, Executive Director Therapist of Medica Zenica

It is a male driven need to show dominance and it is a male driven need to have superiority, and the easiest and most brutal way to do this would be through sexual violence. In Japan during the Second World War, and estimate of 200,000 girls and women were abducted to serve as Ð''combat women'. This serves as a prime example of sexual enslavement during war circumstances. Men have also been victims of sexual violence however these statistics are much less then the women ratio. Today, the new age war rape would be trafficking. This has been a catalyst for a largely diversified debate on whether trafficking should be considered a war crime or not. Because of the numerous amounts of definitions and legislative requirements, the UN is still under the process of categorizing this modern day war rape.

As men were leaving their homes to go to war, specifically the First World War, they left behind a huge gap in the economy. Jobs needed to be filled, and new jobs were opening up to help support the soldiers in battle. Who better to fill those spots then the women that the soldiers left. The women that were so accustomed to their kitchen were now being forced into the workplace. Not only did the women do the jobs of men, they did the jobs and then some what better. Women's wages were much