ACT OF WAR
(2023) OBJECT. SILK, ALUMINIUM, COPPER, NYLON. SIZE 60*40 CM.
TWO SILK PILLOWCASES WITH HAND EMBROIDERY IN THE SHAPE OF FLAGS ON ALUMINIUM HANGERS, ALONG WITH VARIOUS IUD_OBJECTS
TWO SILK PILLOWCASES WITH HAND EMBROIDERY IN THE SHAPE OF FLAGS ON ALUMINIUM HANGERS, ALONG WITH VARIOUS IUD_OBJECTS
Traditionally, women's resistance has been portrayed as passive and learned helplessness. Correspondingly, how the civilian population is expected to surrender to combatants by waving a white flag made of a pillowcase or a bed sheet as a sign of unconditional submission to the mercy of the invader. Women's traditional practices, along with the preparation of a dowry, include preparing one's body for forceful manipulation. Contemporary culture is in no rush to offer any alternative.
Official Western medicine credits German physician Richard Richter with inventing the IUD – the Intrauterine device. While science has learned this method as a known method of contraception since 1800, numerous sources indicate that knowledge was available not only to medieval traders in the Middle East who used to prevent pregnancy in camels by inserting pebbles into their uteri before making long treks across the desert but also by women who have known for a long time that before the approach of the enemy troops, they should place their wedding ring made of copper, silver or gold inside their body.
International law only began to recognize rape during military actions as a weapon of war and a crime against civilians at the end of the 20th century, after a wave of violence in the Balkans and Rwanda, with the numbers of victims of 50,000 and 500,000 women and children, respectively. The UN Security Council affirmed in 2008 that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide." A new wave of discussions of this issue swept the media after the investigation of the war crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine; as of March 2023, the courts have accepted so far only 150 official cases, but we have yet to learn about the scale of violence.
Official Western medicine credits German physician Richard Richter with inventing the IUD – the Intrauterine device. While science has learned this method as a known method of contraception since 1800, numerous sources indicate that knowledge was available not only to medieval traders in the Middle East who used to prevent pregnancy in camels by inserting pebbles into their uteri before making long treks across the desert but also by women who have known for a long time that before the approach of the enemy troops, they should place their wedding ring made of copper, silver or gold inside their body.
International law only began to recognize rape during military actions as a weapon of war and a crime against civilians at the end of the 20th century, after a wave of violence in the Balkans and Rwanda, with the numbers of victims of 50,000 and 500,000 women and children, respectively. The UN Security Council affirmed in 2008 that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide." A new wave of discussions of this issue swept the media after the investigation of the war crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine; as of March 2023, the courts have accepted so far only 150 official cases, but we have yet to learn about the scale of violence.
Historical and contemporary context:
Tens and hundreds of thousands of women became victims of sexualized violence, and it is still impossible for historians to assess the scale of the crimes. Not many people know that the Nanking Massacre was also called the "Rape of Nanking". According to the prosecution, over 20,000 women and girls were raped during the first weeks of the Japanese occupation in 1937. Japanese army abducted an estimated 100,000-200,000 Korean women and forced them into sexual slavery during World War II. Much is known about the crimes of the Nazis and Wehrmacht soldiers in the occupied territories; in France alone, several tens of thousands of cases are known. The exact numbers from Eastern Europe are unknown, but they are thought to be huge. Relatively recently, the question of the crimes of the Red Army was raised, especially during the Battle of Berlin and the shocking figure of 100,000 women - victims of mass rapes and two million women throughout Germany, victims of so-called revenge rapes - a figure roughly taken after analyzing medical archives. These data are entirely denied by the official Soviet and modern Russian historiography, up to and including criminal prosecution for "distortion of history."
Until now, there is no clear information about the crimes of the Allies. In 2007, Robert J. Lilly published a study which collected information about 14,000 women in England, France and Germany who suffered from American soldiers during 1942-1945. In a 2015 article by Spiegel, German historian Miriam Gebhardt argues that American soldiers' crimes against women could be as high as 190,000.
A study by Therese McGinn from Guttmacher Institute from the year 2000 gives the following statistics about Asia: an estimated 250,000- 400,000 women were raped during the Bangladesh war for independence in 1971; 39% of Vietnamese women aged 11-40 fleeing their country by sea in 1985 were abducted or raped. Another 1994 study about the African continent conducted in Liberian Monrovia by WHO found similarly high levels of sexual violence. Rape was reported by 33% of 450 women interviewed; most rapes (84%) occurred during active fighting. More than one attacker was present in over half of the incidents, and weapons were used in the great majority (84%).
In the history of the late 20 century, the estimates of the number of women raped in the former Yugoslavia ranged from 14,000 to 50,000, according to the author of an assessment of sexual violence in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The most brutal incident in contemporary history happened in Rwanda, where according to the UN, nearly every female survivor over twelve years of age had been a victim of rape, with a total number between 250,000 and 500,000 women and girls raped. During the conflict, Hutu released hundreds of patients from hospitals, who were suffering from AIDS, and formed them into "rape squads". According to Frank Chalk, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) handed down the first conviction for the use of rape as a weapon of war during the civil conflict and because the intent of the mass violence against Rwandan women and children was to destroy, in whole or in part, a particular ethnic group, it was the first time that mass rape during wartime was found to be an act of genocidal rape.
Tens and hundreds of thousands of women became victims of sexualized violence, and it is still impossible for historians to assess the scale of the crimes. Not many people know that the Nanking Massacre was also called the "Rape of Nanking". According to the prosecution, over 20,000 women and girls were raped during the first weeks of the Japanese occupation in 1937. Japanese army abducted an estimated 100,000-200,000 Korean women and forced them into sexual slavery during World War II. Much is known about the crimes of the Nazis and Wehrmacht soldiers in the occupied territories; in France alone, several tens of thousands of cases are known. The exact numbers from Eastern Europe are unknown, but they are thought to be huge. Relatively recently, the question of the crimes of the Red Army was raised, especially during the Battle of Berlin and the shocking figure of 100,000 women - victims of mass rapes and two million women throughout Germany, victims of so-called revenge rapes - a figure roughly taken after analyzing medical archives. These data are entirely denied by the official Soviet and modern Russian historiography, up to and including criminal prosecution for "distortion of history."
Until now, there is no clear information about the crimes of the Allies. In 2007, Robert J. Lilly published a study which collected information about 14,000 women in England, France and Germany who suffered from American soldiers during 1942-1945. In a 2015 article by Spiegel, German historian Miriam Gebhardt argues that American soldiers' crimes against women could be as high as 190,000.
A study by Therese McGinn from Guttmacher Institute from the year 2000 gives the following statistics about Asia: an estimated 250,000- 400,000 women were raped during the Bangladesh war for independence in 1971; 39% of Vietnamese women aged 11-40 fleeing their country by sea in 1985 were abducted or raped. Another 1994 study about the African continent conducted in Liberian Monrovia by WHO found similarly high levels of sexual violence. Rape was reported by 33% of 450 women interviewed; most rapes (84%) occurred during active fighting. More than one attacker was present in over half of the incidents, and weapons were used in the great majority (84%).
In the history of the late 20 century, the estimates of the number of women raped in the former Yugoslavia ranged from 14,000 to 50,000, according to the author of an assessment of sexual violence in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The most brutal incident in contemporary history happened in Rwanda, where according to the UN, nearly every female survivor over twelve years of age had been a victim of rape, with a total number between 250,000 and 500,000 women and girls raped. During the conflict, Hutu released hundreds of patients from hospitals, who were suffering from AIDS, and formed them into "rape squads". According to Frank Chalk, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) handed down the first conviction for the use of rape as a weapon of war during the civil conflict and because the intent of the mass violence against Rwandan women and children was to destroy, in whole or in part, a particular ethnic group, it was the first time that mass rape during wartime was found to be an act of genocidal rape.