The fighting in Ukraine is still in full swing after a year. But we already know today that women in occupied territories will again be subjected to sexualized violence in this war, that they will be raped. Even if the full extent is yet to be seen.
Carolin Emcke looks at this sad certainty in this episode of “In all peace”. Together with Monika Hauser, who has been working for traumatized women since the Yugoslav war. Although sexualized violence primarily affects individuals, it is never just an individual trauma, says Hauser. It always affects the whole collective, the whole society.
Monika Hauser, born in Thal, Switzerland, in 1959, is the founder of the women’s rights organization “medica mondiale” and a specialist in gynaecology. In 2008 she received the “Alternative Nobel Prize” for her commitment. She refused the German Federal Cross of Merit in 1996 to protest against the resolution of the German Ministry of the Interior to expel Bosnian refugees.
She became aware of sexualized violence early on, as a young girl: “My South Tyrolean grandmother told me about her own experiences of violence.” It was clear to her very early on “that sexualized violence is part of women’s lives. And that’s something I couldn’t accept.”
“This contempt shown to women leads to daily re-traumatization”
Women who survived the war but were traumatized by sexual violence often suffer from it for a long time: “We see that sexual violence in particular has long-term consequences: extreme anxiety, depression, suicidal feelings. All of these are also signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.” “But also psychosomatic illnesses such as chronic abdominal pain” can develop. How society deals with sexualized violence often has a retraumatizing effect: “This stigmatization, this exclusion, this contempt that is shown to women,” says Hauser.
Monika Hauser’s recommendation
The novel by Taiye Selasi: “These things don’t just happen.”
(Photo: Fischer Verlag)
Monika Hauser recommends “These Things Don’t Just Happen” by Taiye Selasi, published by Fischer Verlag. The novel tells the story of a family scattered across the world. The family members live in London, Accra and New York. Until the father dies in Africa. After many years they see each other again in this way. For Monika Hauser, it’s a story about “life after the trauma and after the war.” A topic that was and is also relevant for German post-war society. “We take far too little time to look at these connections.”