Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and Violence
This article explores how sex and violence were part of the everyday making of the soldier in the Peruvian armed forces during the internal armed conflict between 1980 and 2000. In-depth interviews with Peruvian veterans indicate the importance of sex and violence in soldiers’ experience of becoming...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Latin American Research Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1542427823000184/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1827595942458556416 |
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| author | Jelke Boesten Lurgio Gavilán |
| author_facet | Jelke Boesten Lurgio Gavilán |
| author_sort | Jelke Boesten |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores how sex and violence were part of the everyday making of the soldier in the Peruvian armed forces during the internal armed conflict between 1980 and 2000. In-depth interviews with Peruvian veterans indicate the importance of sex and violence in soldiers’ experience of becoming a combatant. The article analyzes the ambiguity in soldiers’ narratives about sex and violence, coercion, and consent, and how they are implicated in both receiving and enacting sexualized violence. In particular, authors discuss veterans’ accounts of collective experiences of sexualized hazing, abuse of women and girls, porn and prostitution, and references to gang rape. Soldiers, while in the army, experience intimacy through performative practices of sex and violence—which profoundly affect their interactions with one another—and the violence they perpetrate against enemy populations. These military intimacies, encouraged through institutional as well as cultural practices, help explain the prevalence of widespread sexual violence during the conflict. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:02:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f08c092e3b5b4ccb8661975435c0fe82 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1542-4278 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:02:28Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Latin American Research Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-f08c092e3b5b4ccb8661975435c0fe822023-12-04T13:13:24ZengCambridge University PressLatin American Research Review1542-42782023-12-015876277810.1017/lar.2023.18Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and ViolenceJelke Boesten0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9262-5566Lurgio Gavilán1King’s College London, London, United KingdomUniversidad Nacional San Cristóbal de Huamanga, Ayacucho, PeruThis article explores how sex and violence were part of the everyday making of the soldier in the Peruvian armed forces during the internal armed conflict between 1980 and 2000. In-depth interviews with Peruvian veterans indicate the importance of sex and violence in soldiers’ experience of becoming a combatant. The article analyzes the ambiguity in soldiers’ narratives about sex and violence, coercion, and consent, and how they are implicated in both receiving and enacting sexualized violence. In particular, authors discuss veterans’ accounts of collective experiences of sexualized hazing, abuse of women and girls, porn and prostitution, and references to gang rape. Soldiers, while in the army, experience intimacy through performative practices of sex and violence—which profoundly affect their interactions with one another—and the violence they perpetrate against enemy populations. These military intimacies, encouraged through institutional as well as cultural practices, help explain the prevalence of widespread sexual violence during the conflict.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1542427823000184/type/journal_articlegendersexual violencemilitaryPerugéneroviolencia sexualmilitarismoPerú |
| spellingShingle | Jelke Boesten Lurgio Gavilán Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and Violence Latin American Research Review gender sexual violence military Peru género violencia sexual militarismo Perú |
| title | Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and Violence |
| title_full | Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and Violence |
| title_fullStr | Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and Violence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and Violence |
| title_short | Military Intimacies: Peruvian Veterans and Narratives about Sex and Violence |
| title_sort | military intimacies peruvian veterans and narratives about sex and violence |
| topic | gender sexual violence military Peru género violencia sexual militarismo Perú |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1542427823000184/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jelkeboesten militaryintimaciesperuvianveteransandnarrativesaboutsexandviolence AT lurgiogavilan militaryintimaciesperuvianveteransandnarrativesaboutsexandviolence |