Human rights' harmful and harmless gendered outlaws

This contribution dismantles the salient elements of the common construction of femininity and masculinity under international human rights law. Women and girls are suicide bombers, leaders in terrorist organisations, interrogators, prison commanders, guards, and torturers, committing or ordering atrocities – Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo are two of the most infamous places. Men are the target of violence and sexual abuse, especially in militarised displacement settings and in prisons housing suspected terrorists. Boys are subjugated to priests’ and community leaders’ physical and psychological violence in institutionalised contexts. In spite of these facts, mainstream human rights interpretations have constructed a single story of gendered violations under international human rights law. The dualistic opposition of masculine power versus feminine vulnerability dominates, indeed, the law and its readings. Men’s sexuality, and their power dominance, is the danger, and women are in danger, being typically weak, dependent, and vulnerable. This chapter challenges monolithic conceptualisations of femininity and masculinity, arguing that alternative combinations exist, which are based on plural forms of masculinities and femininities. I conclude by encouraging multidimensional approaches to gendered positionalities to allow for a more sophisticated and concrete analysis of human rights violations.