power structures and cultural norms of colonized civilizations before the settling by white European powers were being acknowledged and documented. Specifically observing the indigenous groups in the Americas. The concept of binary gender was introduced to the indigenous groups by the European colonizers in an effort to organize production. The indigenous population found this perplexing due to the cultural belief in “two-spirit” or what can be considered a third gender (Morgensen. 2012). With the colonization of the indigenous population Europeans were able to instill their beliefs about gender and sex, eventually this became a tool in their quest for dominance (Manning, 2019). Additionally it can be suggested that it created the foundation of a hierarchical system in the Americas and the Caribbean society knows toady. In short the institution of gender was the beginnings of colonial power around the world. With the concept of hierarchy forced on the indigenous colonizers were able to justify gendered violence, because of the man over woman ideal.

Gendered violence played an important role in the shaping of colonial societies and establishing power and it continued to be a tool of retaining power during post-colonisation and modern day conflict. It is clear that even in modern day society there is a large amount of inequality throughout the world in terms of men’s and women’s opportunities, and unfortunately the inequalities can become amplified during times of conflict. During World War 1 80% of casualties were soldiers, during the Vietnam War 80% of casualties were civilians mostly women and children (Fagan,1999). This is an example of an extremely concerning trend and that is that women and children have become tools and pawns in conflicts to gain or retain power on both international and national levels. As instability in security increases the risk of sexual violence also increases all across the board for men, women, and children. The use of sexual violence is used a psychological tactic to control and weaken communities through loss of social cohesion. Colonization and war both contributed to the objectification and demoralization use of sexual violence to carry out the task at hand. We see this with early colonizers who were quick to brutalize native women and exploit their newly taken power. A more modern examples would be the conflicts in Rwanda, Uganda, and Bosnia–Herzegovina, which saw sexual violence used as a systemic tool of war; but also can be used to control populations in times of peace (Close, 2011). The use of sexual violence reinforces gender stereotypes in societies both developed and developing, especially the idea that conflict is a male dominated.

Through the analysis of various resources and the utilization of real