Examining Militarized Masculinity, Violence and Conflict: Male Survivors of Torture in International Politics

The article analyses how masculine social norms shape the idea of survivors/victims in International Politics. It will conceptually analyse how masculine social norms have been normalised through militarism and militarized masculinity in international politics. In this process, it will locate how international politics has conceived male survivors of sexualised torture. It will use a gender lens in understanding the discourse and practice of torture in armed conflicts. It argues that there exists a gender-based binary in the way victimhood in conflict situations has been perceived in international politics where victims are generally seen to be women and the perpetrators are men. It uses a critical feminist perspective in problematizing the essentialist gender-based binary between victims and perpetrators of violence particularly sexual and gender-based violence. There exists silence in international politics in the ways that male victims of sexualised torture during conflict situations have been perceived in international politics. This silence reflects the power of social construction of masculinity in international politics. The silence is manifested in the way sexual and gender-based violence on men and boys in conflict situations have been often seen under the broad rubrics of torture which overlooks the sexual harm involved in the practice.