ABSTRACT
Wars have always victimized some individuals more than others as they confirm, celebrate and exacerbate social and gender divisions. War and sexual violence, the subject of Chapter 9, are examined as specific forms of crime against women, as bellicose productions of masculinities. The chapter then moves on to analyse female warriors, their self-perception and their attempt, through violent missions, to achieve an improbable autonomy. Men are raped, too, as shown in examples reported from Libya. In general, sexual violence in war is said to resemble a form of patriotism, a heroic conduct that binds men together while strengthening their national or group identity.
