Hyper-sexualized Propaganda and the Ramifications of Armed Conflict in Purity-Valuing Societies

• In Event: Issues in International and Comparative Politics

Abstract

Since the time of the Spartans, it could be debated that warfare has had a distinct (if not subtle) aura of sexuality. From political cartoons demonizing Tutsi women duirng the Rwandan genocide, to the lewd nature of the Pin-Up Girl in World War II, it could be debated that with sexualized art [whether state-sponsored or individual endevors by military members] can be effective in heightening the mystique of the war being waged. Whether as a morale-booster amongst troops, or as a villanizing factor against enemy women, there seems too be a correlation between times of armed conflict [and war] and hypersexualized art and propoganda. In addition, it is not unnoticed that this weaponizing of sexuality appears to occur in periods and locales where purity was prioritized from the “women at home”— or rather, a purity-based society. While a great deal of literature has been written regarding sexualized art and propaganda in war, a great deal of my curiosity lies in the flint that a purity-valuing society that a spark of sexuality can spring from, creating larger heat in conflict. A deeper analysis into this intersection should be conducted in order to join current points in the existing literature. It can also help with gaining a larger understanding of what fuels this instinct of sexuality and violence in the face of a puriticanical culture, and what it is about armed conflict that gives allowance to cast off a societal robe of purity. I intend to further investigate this connection between societies that value purity, and the increase hypersexualized art during times or war or armed conflict.

Author

• Jane Ilona Ressa, Pace University