The experience and subjectivity of women survivors of sexual violence perpetrated during the peruvian internal armed conflict

Abstract

During the Peruvian internal armed conflict, military bases were installed in the communities of Manta and Vilca in order to maintain order in the area. However, soldiers began raping women on a daily and repeated basis. The purpose of this article is to reflect on how women survivors of sexual violence have come to understand these experiences. In the article, I examine the discourse contained in the testimonies given by women from the communities of Manta and Vilca to the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR). I then analyze the in-depth conversations I had with six of the nine women survivors of rape from the Manta community who are plaintiffs in the judicial process underway since 2016 against fourteen military personnel accused of being their aggressors. These conversations are part of my ethnographic work conducted in 2018 and 2019. By way of conclusion, I note that the meanings that women survivors have given to their experiences reflect subjectivities related to the historical context, but above all to the socio-cultural context. In turn, these subjectivities vary over time, resulting in resignifications of the experiences. This paper is also intended to capture women’s voices through the use of the notion of rape survivor, which theoretically and methodologically seeks to highlight the agency and creativity of the women who are subjected to such experiences.