Yes, absolutely. This is one way of completely terrorizing the population or of deterring it from rebelling. It permanently scars the families. Le Monde entitled its article, "Weapon of Mass Destruction". However, it is also a ticking time bomb because children who have seen their mothers being raped, as has been the case in many instances, or brothers who have seen their sisters in that position will obviously never be the same. They have become completely traumatized people. What is striking is that the psychologists I spoke to told me about the damage, the lasting and probably permanent trauma of most of the people they have seen. A very small minority have access to care since no one in the Zaatari camp in Jordan, for example, will dare confide in a doctor, or else secrecy has to be guaranteed.
I see what this has done in Libya, where women today are still defeated and trapped in their secret. They cannot speak out, or else their families have completely disintegrated. We see this in the DRC, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the social fabric there too has been undermined and completely destroyed.
So you are right, the social aspect is very important. The damage may affect generations. Once again, it is very difficult to intervene since women who have been raped cannot say so.
Now I believe there are small associations, people in France and other countries, that have done some work on these issues in light of what happened in Yugoslavia. Some legal experts have also specialized in the area and have no doubt acquired expertise in the matter, but few people understand how terrible this weapon is as a result of the secrecy it imposes and the silence that is so heavy.