Silent or Inaudible? Male Survivor Stories in Bosnia–Herzegovina

Abstract:This article develops a new conceptual framework to understand silence and silencing with regard to conflict-related sexual violence against men. Based on fieldwork data from Bosnia–Herzegovina, it argues that rather than the silence of victims, the problem is that survivor testimonies are coopted and entextualized, and that male vulnerabilities remain inaudible. This process reinforces ignorance about male-directed sexual violence and helps to maintain the dominant view that masculinity and vulnerability are mutually exclusive. To illustrate the point, it examines two spaces where male survivors have told their stories in Bosnia– Herzegovina: the courts and the detainee associations.