General Information

Sexual violence in the context of war and displacement – what do we mean by this?

This abstract term relates to a multitude of forms of violence. There is also great variation in who the perpetrators are, where and to whom the violence is exercised, and the intention behind it.

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Male survivors

Survivors, affected men, victims

These terms are often used for people who have experienced violence. Some prefer the term "survivor". It emphasizes that someone has experienced disturbing or traumatic events, but that they also survived these events. The term foregrounds the strength and resilience of those affected.

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Forms

By exercising sexual violence, the perpetrators usually attack the victims on the physical and on the psychological level simultaneously.

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By exercising sexual violence, the perpetrators usually attack the victims on the physical and on the psychological level simultaneously.

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Motives

There is always an unequal power relation between the perpetrator(s) and the victim(s) in the respective situation.

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There is always an unequal power relation between the perpetrator(s) and the victim(s) in the respective situation.

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Perpetrators

When sexual violence is committed against men, very often the perpetrators themselves are also men.

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When sexual violence is committed against men, very often the perpetrators themselves are also men.

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Consequences for survivors

The consequences for those affected are often very stressful

We distinguish between physical, psychological, social and sexual consequences, although these cannot always be clearly separated from each other.

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Taboo and stigma

The topic of sexual violence is a taboo in many societies

A taboo signals a boundary of socially shared rules and expectations. When sexualised violence is committed, a taboo is broken, a boundary is crossed.

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Breaking the silence 

We would like to point out in advance: It is not fundamentally bad to keep your own experiences of violence to yourself. For many of those affected, this is part of their personal processing. Each survivor should decide for himself if and when he feels ready to confide in someone.
However, if you are affected yourself, there are really good reasons to talk to a trusted person about what happened to you and also to seek professional support.

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Research

„Sexual violence against men in the context of war and forced displacement”

We are currently conducting a study on the topic of "Sexual violence against men in the context of war and forced displacement". Here we briefly present the study.

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About us

This is us

The research team of the project "Sexual Violence against Men in the Context of War and Forced Displacement" introduces themselves.

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News

Symposium on conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys

October 6-7th 2022 we hosted a conference on "conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys" in Hannover.

You can find our conference program here:

Here you can find our cooperation partners