Award-winning British author Christina Lamb has dedicated an entire book to exposing the brutal realities of sexual slavery and violence against women in modern-day wars and conflicts. This work finally gives the victims a voice and brings this issue to light. The celebrated British journalist and author recounts the harrowing fates of women in numerous conflicts throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. She has traveled, researched, and conducted interviews. The result is a very well-written and well-researched book. Rather than focusing on Lamb’s perspective, the book mainly centers on the voices of victims and their relatives. Robert Schenck, our guest blogger, has now read it.
Sexual slavery and violence against women are frequently used as deliberate strategies in wars and other conflicts. These are horrific actions that have been committed for as long as civilization has existed and are still widely perpetrated today. The sexual slavery that RealStars fights against in Sweden and around the globe takes on an additional horrifying dimension in Our Bodies, Their Battlefield – What War Does to Women.
The acts described by Lamb are unimaginably cruel and difficult to read. As if the physical and psychological traumas endured by these women were not enough, many are later subjected to lengthy and often fruitless international trials. They are also rejected by their former families and communities, as they are considered “tainted.”
No continent is spared: from Russian soldiers in Germany and Japanese “comfort women” in World War II, to conflicts in Bosnia, Myanmar, Rwanda, Spain (during its civil war), Argentina, the Philippines, Iraq, Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and others. One horrific abuse after another targets women and children. The abuses are used as a deliberate strategy to break people down, ethnically cleanse, and conquer territories. Often, soldiers are not only complicit but also actively encouraged by their superiors.
Poverty, mental health issues, and substance abuse create hotbeds of prostitution and sexual slavery worldwide, driven by demand for paid assaults. Additionally, it is crucial to recognize war and conflict as major contributing factors. In the past, when the many horrors of war were highlighted, the fates of women and sexual violence were entirely neglected, something Christina Lamb addresses. Raising awareness of these abuses strengthens the case for non-military conflict resolution and world peace. Ultimately, this book offers many compelling reasons to be read.
Våra kroppar, deras slagfält – vad krig gör med kvinnor by Christina Lamb
Translated by Hillevi Jonsson
Natur & Kultur, Stockholm 2021
Original title: Our Bodies, Their Battlefield – What War Does to Women
Previously reviewed for RealStars’ website, specifically on the fate of the Yazidi women during ISIS’s conquests in Iraq:
The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad
Swedish title: (Den sista flickan: berättelsen om min fångenskap och kamp mot Islamiska staten).