Bandits and Prostitutes

The Role of Gender in the Stigmatization of Former Child Soldiers

Resumé

Returning home and reintegrating into families and communities often pose significant challenges for former child soldiers, who frequently face profound stigmatization. Yet little is known about what motivates this stigma and how it differs between returning boy and girl soldiers. Through a feminist analysis of narratives from former child soldiers and their community members, this article examines how gendered threat perceptions shape negative attitudes toward returning child soldiers in CAR and DRC. The comparative analysis reveals that while returning boy soldiers are primarily perceived as physical threats, returning girl soldiers are often viewed as symbolic threats to the community’s sense of ontological security. These binary perceptions, however, do not necessarily reflect reality, as girls are often involved in violence and boys also experience sexual exploitation. Instead, they illustrate how stigmatizing narratives are deeply shaped by gendered expectations to the roles, identities, and behaviors of boys and girls. Beyond advancing knowledge of the gendered nature of the stigmatization of former child soldiers, this study situates the phenomenon of stigma within broader patriarchal power structures, demonstrating how stigma serves to uphold and reinforce existing gendered hierarchies. Addressing this stigma, therefore, requires a comprehensive approach that challenges these underlying hierarchies and power dynamics within affected communities.