War and Injury to the Body

The essay looks at the relationship between war and the human body. War is not often viewed as an assault on the individual human body but seen as conflict between groups and states. The essay used several schools of thought and thinkers to discuss the injury to the body through war. This also included a discussion on targeted violence against women and young children due to patriarchy and 'the destruction of normal patterns of social relations' as described by Christine Sylvester. These groups are often held hostage throughout the conflict and used as bargaining chips. Feminist theory in IR suggests that the violence and injury of the body are often gendered with the assault of women used as a weapon of war, fear, and intimidation