Women's Bodies Book Review

Women’s Bodies: A Battleground of Sexuality and Violence

Women in Eastern Europe were subjected to many horrors during the 20th century, both in times of peace and times of war. They had to endure war and the killing of civilians through bombs and general warfare, but there were also violences against women that were specific to women, including military brothels, rape camps, and sex trafficking. Besides these women had many problems to deal with in the household, domestic abuse was on the rise, and because of the war many household slipped into economic despair. Poverty was a huge battle women were forced to endure which in many cases lead to prostitution, sex for food, and thus a higher risk for illness and death. On top of these women also had to deal with the …show more content…
This book gave the women a voice to explain what it was like to live before, during, and after the genocide. The story of a women named Muska shows what it was like to be taken away on the trucks because of the removal of the Bosniak people. She describes how children were taken from their mothers, and how the women made themselves look as undesirable as possible in order to avoid attracting attention of the soldiers, through ash on their skin and ugly dirty old clothes. There was so much uncertainty as to what happened to relatives, since so many people were relocated to refugee camps. A main theme that is told throughout all of the women’s stories is that of isolation. The women not only felt isolated during their time at the camps or during the genocide, but afterwards as well. Because many of them are still in camps and it is a relatively recent event, there is no sense of community yet about what happened. Since they are in the camps as well they are on the outskirts of society and in a sort of inbetween