“Woman Confronting War” by Jennifer Turpin is an informative piece around the profound effect that war has on woman. As an author, dean of a University and faculty of the European University Centre For Peace studies, Turpin has much knowledge in this area, giving her great credibility and an impressive, easy to read piece of writing. Turpin starts by stating the conventional views of gender relationships to war: Men make war, women make peace (324). She then provides us with an in depth look at the many impacts that war has on women including being direct casualties of war, war refugees, wartime sexual violence and domestic violence.
Turpin is opening up our eyes to capture the truth about the lives of women behind this clouded shield of war and the brave soldiers of our country whom we are so proud of. The fact that as civilians, woman are more likely to be killed in war than soldiers (325), is extremely depressing. For myself, the most horrifying piece was around the wartime rape, genocide and forced prostitution. I had no idea that this was something that happened so frequently and was viewed as something of commonplace. How horrifying! What is this world coming to when even the United Nations peacekeepers are committing rape and sexual abuse against women and young girls. Turpin shares an example of a statement from the head of a U.N mission regarding sexual abuse of women and girls. He states, “eighteen-year-old, hot-blooded soldiers had a right to drink a few beers and chase after young beautiful things of the opposite sex,” (327). This is just another example of how rape is considered to be an accepted part of military life.
Turpin did a great job of supporting her argument though her use of pathos, which undeniably will pull at the heartstrings of anyone who reads it. Learning that a Serbian soldier would rape a Muslim woman just so she could bear a Serbian child, as an attempt to exterminate another group, is devastating. This psychological torture causes the woman to be humiliated and ashamed for carrying the enemy’s child, but also may be shunned by her own family and community (326). This was one of the many effective examples that left me with the feeling of a rock at the bottom of my stomach. Turpin also supports her examples with stats including, “Soviet soldiers raped approximately two million woman in eastern Germany in 1945,” (327). Not only is wartime rape a thing of the past, but it is also still happening today. Turpin has written an effective piece, which I can say has honestly moved me and has left me questioning why this is still happening and why no one is doing anything to prevent it or help these women of wartime violence. My heart goes out to them.
Do you think that wartime sexual violence against woman is something that Canada’s troops are involved with in Iraq? Does this influence your trust or respect for our military?
Hi Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your analysis of Turpin's article. In your entry you have some excellent quotes to support your points. For example, you commend Turpin on her use of stats and examples and then your provide a sample so the reader can appreciate what Turpin is doing.
Thank your for citing accurately. Small point but I did notice some commas at the end of quotes. Remove these so it looks like this: own family and community (326). And not this: in eastern Germany in 1945,” (327).
A sentence that I found a bit confusing was:
Turpin is opening up our eyes to capture the truth about the lives of women behind this clouded shield of war and the brave soldiers of our country whom we are so proud of.
Would it be better to put the brave soldiers in their own sentence? Also, I'm wondering if you intend irony or heartfelt gratitude when you talk about the soldiers? Either is just fine, but I'd like to know what you mean.
Thank you for the good question at the end of the blog. Turpin offers an overview of the problem but she left me wondering about what is being done to help women of war. Not to keep on about Lewis's article (smile) but I did appreciate his inclusion of the organizations helping to fight AIDS. So I went on the web and found some great Youtube videos talking about an organization called Women For Women International. It is an organization helping women regain their dignity by providing them with a living: farms, small businesses etc.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this entry very much and thank you for all your hard work on these last two blogs. Your grade for this blog is in the grade book.