[Niamh.]

Suddenly, images of Ukrainian women are all over the internet. Most of them are mothers, fleeing Russian convoys, carrying their children across borders. Many of them are leaving husbands and brothers behind to fight. But these heart-wrenching photographs, published by the mainstream media, are only part of the story. Ukrainian women will suffer in myriad ways before this war is over.

Pornhub has a new category: “Ukrainian girls and war rape videos”; it is dominated by Russian soldiers documenting disgustingly brutal crimes. Domestic violence and street harassment have already spiked. Female refugees are falling victim to pimps and traffickers; official channels — the police, hospitals, legal systems — won’t help them.

Where women are concerned, “the foreign coverage of the war is concentrated mostly on women fleeing with children”, Maria Dmytrieva tells me. The Ukrainian feminist activist — a key member of the Global Network of Women Peacekeepers — believes this coverage misrepresents the reality of war for women, and the ways in which women specifically become targets for attack.

We speak via Zoom, and as night falls, she sits in darkness, so as not to be spotted by saboteurs. Although the Russians had not yet arrived in her small town, a few miles outside Kyiv, like everybody else in Ukraine she is in a perilous position.

Maria has been involved in the campaign to end male violence in Ukraine for more than two decades. I have visited her in Ukraine on several occasions and have seen her make powerful men in senior government positions quake when she rails against injustices towards women and girls.

One study from 2019 found that 75% of women in Ukraine reported experiencing some form of violence since the age of 15, and one in three reported experiencing physical or sexual violence. According to a recent statement by the United Nations, crisis and displacement has recently put women in Ukraine at increased risk of sexual and physical violence and abuse. There are no figures as of yet to show the levels of violence experienced by women and girls since the Russian invasion, but plenty of evidence is being amassed by women’s NGOs.

In many ways, the experiences of women in Ukraine echo the plight of women in wars throughout history: we face reduced protections from violence and often an increase of domestic abuse. The situation is exacerbated, though, by the fact that Ukraine is being invaded by a country which effectively decriminalised domestic violence in 2017. It is well-documented that, post-conflict, when traumatised men return home, levels of violence against women increase. But if Russia wins, the right of Ukrainian men to beat their wives will be enshrined in the law of the land.

“So far we have felt as a nation, united around this common threat”, Dmytrieva told me. “But we are pretty much bound to have the growth of cases of domestic violence, of male violence against women, both during and after the war is over”.

Domestic violence is not the only threat to women in war. There is a “new wave of sexual violence”, with 11 reports from different women that they were raped by Russian soldiers in Kershon, confirmed by a local gynaecologist. Of those 11, only five survived. Other reports of sexual violation by troops are being picked up by the UK media, but, according to Dmytrieva, little is being done to help.

Rape victims will suffer consequences long after the conflict has ended — especially those whose violation is circulated on the internet. The existence of this sick revenge porn ensures that the women brutalised in it will never be able to return to a normal life. Even if they escape the conflict, it then ends, and they make it home, they are likely to be shunned by their families.

The videos are perfect ammunition for pimps and traffickers to use to control women and force them into prostitution. Displaced women and girls are often without any food, shelter or income, with many caring for children. Traffickers seize the opportunity to coerce women into selling sex, and soon they are trapped and held captive. “It is really terrifying how capitalism and imperialism are going hand in hand to exploit those who cannot defend themselves right now”, Dmytrieva tells me. “And it is truly terrifying to see that amongst all this surge in humanity in caring for other people, there are those who want to exploit this weakness and make money out of it. It is very disheartening”.

“Organised gangs [are] trying to abduct young women on the Ukrainian Polish border and we already have several cases in Germany where the girls have been abducted by pimps in the refugee camps”, Dmytrieva explains. Punters in Germany are delighted; feminist colleagues have seen screenshots of them “talking online with each other about how happy they are to have young fresh Ukrainian women crossing the German border”. With no home, no money, no job, no resources, and a very limited legal framework protecting them, these displaced women are among the most vulnerable in the world.

https://unherd.com/2022/03/how-ukrai...nd=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=a6f7fb17b5&mc_eid=d f5d7d0bd7&fbclid=IwAR0IA_HxQamUYIEFOB-ox3NdtFVGqmX7d6JDhhmPdWVIOEVf3FZkVAzHxAo

[bots]

it's abhorrent, there will be thousands of prince andrews queuing up to take advantage. People should apply the same sanctions to pornhub and the like that they have been doing so quickly elsewhere

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

it's abhorrent, there will be thousands of prince andrews queuing up to take advantage. People should apply the same sanctions to pornhub and the like that they have been doing so quickly elsewhere

It's disgusting and people wonder why Porn is so problematic for women and girls

[Cherie]

I heard this yesterday that at the borders where these women and children are crossing some people turning up to drive them to 'safety' are people traffickers and they authorities there have no database of who is who or where they are going.

it did occur to me as well a I have heard a few men ringing in LBC to say they had rooms they could offer and they were outraged that they couldnt just have someone come and live with them, but safeguarding has to come to play and while 99% may be genuine you will always get people who take advantage.

[Livia]

Time to start cutting off cocks as a deterrent when these people are caught. Paedophiles are the lowest form of life and pimps are right down there with them. I don't suppose any mentally ill men will be identifying as these particular women.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

I heard this yesterday that at the borders where these women and children are crossing some people turning up to drive them to 'safety' are people traffickers and they authorities there have no database of who is who or where they are going.

it did occur to me as well a I have heard a few men ringing in LBC to say they had rooms they could offer and they were outraged that they couldnt just have someone come and live with them, but safeguarding has to come to play and while 99% may be genuine you will always get people who take advantage.

Yeah, they were talking about it here too because they are rolling out some sort of program where people can offer spare rooms to refugees but those offering rooms would need to be vetted, of course it's a lovely thing to do to help but we can't not safe guard these (mainly) women and children just because its a nice thing to do

[Cherie]

Surely Pornhub should be subject to the same outrage and pressure that Maccy Ds and Coca Cola came under to shut down anything Russian related

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Surely Pornhub should be subject to the same outrage and pressure that Maccy Ds and Coca Cola came under to shut down anything Russian related

I've just searched Pornhub (it wasn't pretty...) for any trace of these images/vids and I can't see any. Maybe already taken down? Hope so.

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by Livia

Time to start cutting off cocks as a deterrent when these people are caught. Paedophiles are the lowest form of life and pimps are right down there with them. I don't suppose any mentally ill men will be identifying as these particular women.

jesus ****ing christ.

[Kizzy]

The erosion of the rights of women is happening everywhere, even on international Women's day the government refused to look at the cost of childcare. Funding for domestic violence charities is cut and refuges closed even though domestic violence is almost endemic in this country. Convictions for rape are a joke as are investigations and sentences for child abuse. We have laws here but in all honestly they don't appear to be worth the paper they are written on.
The vulnerable will be exploited even easier in war time, it's good to see awareness of this happening in Ukraine being spread across the globe, and the methods used exposed. This way countries as seen can double down on safeguarding at borders.

[Oliver_W]

It's a similar situation with homeless women. Online discourse around this sort of thing sucks:

And while at a glance it makes it look like homelessness is largely a male problem, the difference is because homeless women get snapped up by pimps, kept in a drugged up semi-catatonic state, and forced to be prostitutes. We could point to the fact there are more respurces out there to support homeless women, but thwy're still extremely vulnerable to exploitation.

Originally Posted by Livia

Time to start cutting off cocks as a deterrent when these people are caught. Paedophiles are the lowest form of life and pimps are right down there with them. I don't suppose any mentally ill men will be identifying as these particular women.

When Ukraine says all men need to join the army:

[Beso]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

The erosion of the rights of women is happening everywhere, even on international Women's day the government refused to look at the cost of childcare. Funding for domestic violence charities is cut and refuges closed even though domestic violence is almost endemic in this country. Convictions for rape are a joke as are investigations and sentences for child abuse. We have laws here but in all honestly they don't appear to be worth the paper they are written on.
The vulnerable will be exploited even easier in war time, it's good to see awareness of this happening in Ukraine being spread across the globe, and the methods used exposed. This way countries as seen can double down on safeguarding at borders.

And you were moaning about the Ukraine refugee crisis and. Britains slow intake...


Perhaps you and all the other people using this as a stick to bash the government with can now see why they do things differently to the rest of Europe.

This was absolutely glaringly obvious, and is why the uk prefer to check properly.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper

jesus ****ing christ.

That's not his middle name.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by parmnion

And you were moaning about the Ukraine refugee crisis and. Britains slow intake...


Perhaps you and all the other people using this as a stick to bash the government with can now see why they do things differently to the rest of Europe.

This was absolutely glaringly obvious, and is why the uk prefer to check properly.

Nope.. I was commenting on our governments delay in deciding to accept refugees at all initially, let it be known Priti Patels hesitancy had nothing to do with safeguarding.

[UserSince2005]

they dont have their husbands to protect them,

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by Alf

That's not his middle name.

Sounded better than Geoff - his actual middle name.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper

Sounded better than Geoff - his actual middle name.

Nope it's Henry.

Jesus H Christ.

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Nope it's Henry.

Jesus H Christ.

Now that's the kind of name that could produce a ML winner

[Beso]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Nope.. I was commenting on our governments delay in deciding to accept refugees at all initially, let it be known Priti Patels hesitancy had nothing to do with safeguarding.

In your opinion.

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by parmnion

In your opinion.

And factually, in the opinions of people who work in this sector.

There have even been reports (by the British Embassy no less) that officials are asking to see utility bills of people fleeing a war zone.

This is where the economic migrant/refugee/asylum seeker myth is revealed in all it's glory, as well as the post brexit nimbleness that leaving was supposed to afford us.

[Oliver_W]

What's wrong with verifying people's identities?

[The Slim Reaper]

Because if you're applying for a car loan, that's fair enough, if you've been forced out of your homes and country, then it's an invented barrier to make sure that we help as few people as possible.

Not surprising when the government is funded by Putin.

[bots]

verifying peoples identities on arrival helps in all sorts of ways. For example how else are families going to be re-united down the line. How else can vulnerable people be protected from traffickers.

We have proper services in this country and that requires proper registration. I can't believe people are actually arguing against it

[The Slim Reaper]

Pretending that it's normal for folks displaced by war, to have access to all the possessions they would normally have access to, is so unbelievably disingenuous.

[The Slim Reaper]

Actual war zone

How people who despise foreigners see evacuation in a war zone: