Honor, Shame and Conquest: Male Identity, Sexual Violence, and the Body Politic

Abstract

Constructions of conquest in sexualised terms of violence and humiliation have been the foundation for widespread human rights abuses by Latin American military regimes documented in recent reports. Notions of male honour and sexual shame shaped the sexual assaults and extreme violence against male and female victims, as a form of symbolic conquest in defence of the body-politic and national security. The final part of the paper suggests that a similar culture of sexualised violence may also be relevant for understanding military practices in the first-century Roman Empire and that these might indicate a disturbing dimension in the crucifixion of Jesus.