military sexual trauma
Oct. 9th, 2007 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
2eclipselots of people feel that women should be drafted equally with men.
in some ways i see the fairness of this. of course i am against any draft at all or any war at all for that matter. but i am back-listening to NOW podcasts and i recently listened to the episode about sexual assault in the military and it has changed my mind.
some interesting facts gleaned from the episode:
- after the first gulf war 15 % of women reported being raped in a government study.
- close to 25% reported being sexually assaulted, which lead to committess being established and a lot of rules and policies that apparantly are not enforced at all. One of the things that happened is a process were women can report in a limited capacity, get the help they need, but not initiate investigations and hearings. since then, the number of women reporting sexual assault and seeking treatment has DOUBLED!
- women who report rape or assault are often tormented by the people who are supposed to be helping them as well as people completely uninvolved.
- a low priority is put on keeping women safe. restrictions are placed on perpetrators, but are not enforced.
in my opinion it is a travesty that we are so failing the people who have stepped forward to help. how dare we even think of putting a draft on women when we can't/don't protect them from the other soldiers!
i also have some problems with the program for not addressing male rape. if it is happening with women, odds are it is happening with men too. i would like to know more about that side of things.
in some ways i see the fairness of this. of course i am against any draft at all or any war at all for that matter. but i am back-listening to NOW podcasts and i recently listened to the episode about sexual assault in the military and it has changed my mind.
some interesting facts gleaned from the episode:
- after the first gulf war 15 % of women reported being raped in a government study.
- close to 25% reported being sexually assaulted, which lead to committess being established and a lot of rules and policies that apparantly are not enforced at all. One of the things that happened is a process were women can report in a limited capacity, get the help they need, but not initiate investigations and hearings. since then, the number of women reporting sexual assault and seeking treatment has DOUBLED!
- women who report rape or assault are often tormented by the people who are supposed to be helping them as well as people completely uninvolved.
- a low priority is put on keeping women safe. restrictions are placed on perpetrators, but are not enforced.
in my opinion it is a travesty that we are so failing the people who have stepped forward to help. how dare we even think of putting a draft on women when we can't/don't protect them from the other soldiers!
i also have some problems with the program for not addressing male rape. if it is happening with women, odds are it is happening with men too. i would like to know more about that side of things.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-09 06:14 pm (UTC)that being said the idea of women forced into a situation that is unsafe for them is infuriating to me. the idea of the government getting away with it is worse. it pushes me into irrational anger(clearly a personal problem).
i agree that it would be impossible to get any accurate figures on gay rape in the military, but it should be possible to find some INaccurate figures from the few who have come forward and raise some sympathy for them.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-09 08:48 pm (UTC)And I may not be a pacifist, exactly, since my cynicism regarding humanity is tempered, but still fairly boundless - I would definitely prefer for the world and this country to be in a framework and circumstance where such things could be for the few - or even for the none.
Irrational, to one extent or another, anger at such a circumstance, especially when it is the government (wasn't there something about "for the people" written once?) is not an unexpected or unwarranted reaction. It is ridiculous. It is sickening. And it is one of a long list of things that fall into those two categories.
However, rape is a loss of autonomy. It is a degradation of self. And no matter how well you cope with it initially or as time wears on, there is near always the thought that you should have been able to damned well prevent it. It doesn't matter how massively they out-massed you, out-strengthed you... I've even met women who were bloody well drugged who STILL find it within the shame that can and usually does surround the experience who found a way to blame it on themselves.
It should be possible to find such figures, yes. It is, however, a culture of silence and secrecy. From straight men if raped, because of the cultural framework of what a man should be and how he should react and the subconscious certainty that they have been unmanned by allowing themselves to be raped. For the gay men, if raped... well, the "Asked For It" doctrine is applied to them as easily by fools as it is to women. I've even heard of cases in which the defense of "Well, he's gay, so I figured he'd like it" was used.
Grrr. What humanity is capable of as far as this is concerned sickens me.