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Genocide defined:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical (sic), racial or religious group,

United Nations

: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group

Merriam Webster

However, does this clearly extend to mass murder for/by gender or sex?

All of this is prompted by a passage I saw in Stieg Larsson's English translation of his third novel in the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. [In Swedish called Män som hatar kvinnor, i.e. Men who hate Women] (BTW, the first time I have seen it used to apply to murder by sex.)

The women of Anatolia took to the sword to crush invasion from the Caucasus, after the male soldiers were all slaughtered in a far-reaching genocide.

This brings to mind the Srebrenica massacre, in which the victims were not only Muslim, but also only men and boys of military age...

In Latin America, we hear the word Femicidio with all too often regularity. In the USA, it is sometimes called Femicide. , also heard with too much regularity...

However, Homicide is legally defined as "the deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another; murder.".

And these are all individual murders.

In other words, since the Latin prefix hom meaning "man" usually extends to all humans, is there another word for the massacre of only men? Or for that matter, the massacre of only women?

Also:https://www.britannica.com/topic/homicide

Could we extend this to LGBTQ+ people?

Given the present volatile political situation in most of the world, I am thinking we need to define this more clearly.

***NB I have seen Can "genocide" be used for the mass murder of disabled people? and I am not sure that this answers the question.

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    Genocide refers to any variety of mass murder. Motives are irrelevant; deaths are not.
    – John Lawler
    May 10 at 13:36
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    The point about genocide is the systematic killing of people, any people as a group.: men, women, children, disabled, transgender, gay, etc. I really think breaking it down weakens it. Hitler killed them all, didn't he?
    – Lambie
    May 12 at 21:15
  • @Lambie The term is recent (1944) and I think still evolving...vamos a ver
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    May 12 at 21:17
  • @Lambie Saying that " the term genocide is not evolving" means less inclusive, in fact exclusive of groups. Was that your intent? Are you that prescriptive ? The term was coined only going back to 1944, was adopted by the ONU many years later...
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    May 12 at 21:33
  • Not at all. I am saying that genocide is everyone regardless of gender or gender identity. It doesn't matter when it was "coined"; it has always been everyone,. Hitler killed gays and gypsies and the mentally disabled. They don't get separate terms. Everyone is everyone. So today that INCLUDES anyone and everyone. including any LGBTQ+ individuals in Ukraine. There is no distinction in genocide. Believe me, genocide is inclusive, it includes everyone. Which is why the term is still valid today.
    – Lambie
    May 12 at 21:37

1 Answer 1

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Wikipedia has an article on Gendercide:

the systematic killing of members of a specific gender

It discusses male (androcide), female (femicide) and non-binary versions. Only femicide seems to be listed in dictionaries, however, so whether these qualify as accepted terms is up to you.

Edit:

Most definitions for "genocide" specify the destruction of a group "in whole or in part". Targeting only one gender of a group definitely qualifies.

However, it's not clear what a "group" or "a people" signifies and if it covers, for example, all men regardless of cultural, ethnic or religious background.

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    Can you add anything that directly responds to the OP. ie does your answer imply that 'genocide' does not apply to just killing women, or does genocide work but your suggestions are preferred?
    – Mitch
    May 9 at 23:35
  • The UNI definition: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. So, if you are LGBTQ+ and in Ukraine, you are included because Ukraine is a cultural group.
    – Lambie
    May 12 at 21:43
  • @Lambie That's like a less-than-satisfactory Venn diagram
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    May 13 at 20:16
  • @Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ What is it that is so difficult to understand? Genocide kills everyone. Now, femicide exists but it is one by one due to the fact of being a woman just like all the others: fratricide, regicide, sororicide etc. ad nauseum. Due to being a king, a sister etc. Genocide is not one by one: it means everyone. For the LGBTQ+, you have to find an individual word for each and leave genocide alone. None of these terms except genocide apply to everyone.
    – Lambie
    May 13 at 21:39
  • Can you point out to me please where a group of say, just gays, have been mass murdered in modern history? gendercide means killing because of the gender but not a mass of people.
    – Lambie
    May 13 at 21:41

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