Violence Sexual Violence: Hidden Truths the Articles

Violence Sexual Violence: Hidden Truths The articles that students were asked to review were concerned with sexual violence around the world. These articles illustrated and elaborated upon many instances of sexually-based violence in domestic or civilian life, as well as within the context of war. There were many shocking elements to the contents of the articles. One of the greatest shocks that readers may have come across in reading and analyzing these articles is the proliferation of sexual violence against men and boys.

Sexual violence is normatively associated with females -- women and girls. Though people may not be completely literate and aware of the various kinds of sexually-based violent acts that are performed around the world upon women, the average person is more likely to be aware of violence against women and not against men.

The information in the articles clearly demonstrates that there is a great lack of education regarding sexually-based violence around the world, against all sexes and genders, and not just the ones that get promoted the most by the media. The articles discuss in moderate detail how sexual violence is used within the context of war, or within the military. Some people may be aware of how rape is used as a strategy during war.

This practice is typically associated with women and girls as the victims, as well as this association with respect to the topic of human trafficking. People have been conditioned, primarily by the media, to associate human trafficking, prostitution, and victims of rape with women and girls, when these articles make it clear that this is a human issue, and not simply a female issue.

I think because the media plays such an important and influential role in the associations between sexual violence and sexual exploitation, that it should be the same tool to re-educate people regarding the realities of this issue. Prior to reading these articles, I was aware of violence such as bride burning, stoning, honor killing, human trafficking, and rape.

These were not personal interests of mine, but topics that I had to research as a result of my studies, as well as learning from other professors and peers who knew about these issues. Though I knew very little, it became apparent to me after a short time that there was an abundance of information about these issues that the public was unaware of and would have a difficult time believing or understanding.

One of the greatest challenges in educating people about the realities of these issues is that for many cultures, the concept that a man could be raped, forced into prostitution, slavery, and other forms of sexual and violent exploitation, goes against deeply held beliefs and cultural traditions. In the west, people are taught that men are strong and women are weak. We are taught that women get raped and beaten because they are weak, but if a man were in a similar situation, he would be able to escape.

Yet, there are new statistics gathered and released in the 21st century that show that men are more likely to be raped and beaten than women, especially if those statistics include data from prisons, which a place where more and more men are put for longer, especially in countries such as the United States. If I were to continue researching.