UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs

This Comment expands upon legal and academic understandings of sexual violence as an act of genocide, arguing that men, transgender women, and intersex/non-binary/third-gender individuals can also experience genocidal forms of sexual violence.  I demonstrate how international law about genocidal sexual violence has almost entirely focused on the bodies and reproductive capacities of cisgender women, obscuring how and why other individuals can be targeted during episodes of genocide.  I then discuss how genocidal sexual violence against different genders can be understood, challenging international criminal law practitioners to adopt a more inclusive outlook on gender and victimhood in future genocide investigations and prosecutions.