If you're a young Lithuanian man, you have the fear of being called up to the army hanging over your head. On May 11, 37,000 men aged 19-26 woke up to the news that they could either join the army, leave the country or go to prison. Another wave of conscription is planned for September, with another 3,500 to be called up at some point over the month.
This has sparked debate about gender roles; it's just men who are entering this forced slavery against their will. Some men have chosen to leave the country rather than face being called up, with some describing their emigration as cowardly.
Two women, photographer and political scientist Neringa Rekasiute and actress and TV host Beata Tiskevic-Hasanova teamed up to create They Won A Lottery, a photo series that challenges perceptions of masculinity and highlights the horror of forced military service.
Tiskevic-Hasanova and Rekasiute found 14 Lithuanian men at random, dressed them in army uniform and photographed them crying. The pictures come with captions from each man revealing their their feelings about conscription. Rekasiute told Dazed how They Won A Lottery has polarised opinion in Lithuania and how she was branded a "traitor" by some.
"In Lithuania, people are totally split in two opinions about this project – they either hate it or love it," she said. "Me and Beata, who is the co-creator of the project, were called the traitors of the state when we released it."
Many European countries still enforce conscription, including Albania and Armenia. Compulsory military service in the UK started to end after 1957.
