Remember Private Benjamin? Goldie Hawn goes from princess to private and grows up. That 1980 film was a combination of feminism, coming-of-age and just plain funny. But that’s not how the U.S. military treats its women. Maybe not then, but certainly not now. In fact, we’re allowing our soldier sisters to suffer at unthinkable rates. It’s beyond shameful. Representative Jane Harman details the horror (no, I am not exaggerating – this is every woman’s version of a horror movie) in this LA Times op ed republished on Alternet. This is from Harman’s piece:
The scope of the problem
was brought into acute focus for me during a visit to the West Los Angeles VA
Healthcare Center, where I met with female veterans and their doctors. My jaw
dropped when the doctors told me that 41% of female veterans seen at the clinic
say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report
being raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued
terror, feelings of helplessness and the downward spirals many of their lives
have since taken.
Numbers reported by the
Department of Defense show a sickening pattern. In 2006, 2,947 sexual assaults
were reported — 73% more than in 2004. The DOD’s newest report, released this
month, indicates that 2,688 reports were made in 2007, but a recent shift from
calendar-year reporting to fiscal-year reporting makes comparisons with data
from previous years much more difficult.
What level of misogyny, anger, or malignant neglect allows this to be the way we treat 20% of our military? It’s an insult to their service and to every American woman and yet another shameful chapter in our relationship with those who would protect us. Does it seem to anyone else that Abu Ghraib and our other abuses of Iraqi prisoners and the abuse of women in our own military both demonstrate a terrible loss of humanity among at least some of our soliders?
I remember reading a book called ABSOLUTELY AMERICAN, about the meritocracy that is West Point. There was a time, recently, when the Army, at least, had moved very far from its less attractive traits and was struggling, by training leaders well, to guarantee that abuses did not happen in the future. I wish I knew what has happened; whether they never got below the surface, whether it’s the fact that so many of our soldiers are National Guard and just not as well-trained, or simply that there’s a surfeit of anger in our military (and out here, too.)
Beyond the acts themselves, there’s not even much punishment. Here’s more of Harman’s piece:
At the heart of this crisis is
an apparent inability or unwillingness to prosecute rapists in the ranks.
According to DOD statistics, only 181 out of 2,212 subjects investigated for
sexual assault in 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, were referred to
courts-martial, the equivalent of a criminal prosecution in the military.
Another 218 were handled via nonpunitive administrative action or discharge,
and 201 subjects were disciplined through "nonjudicial punishment,"
which means they may have been confined to quarters, assigned extra duty or
received a similar slap on the wrist. In nearly half of the cases investigated,
the chain of command took no action; more than a third of the time, that was
because of "insufficient evidence."
Anyone who pays any attention to this issue, or even who’s ever watched LAW AND ORDER knows that rape is a crime of dominance and hate, not a sexual crime. That means that every one of those rapes is an act of rage against a woman — and a fellow soldier. And that in all the years that women have been part of active military duty, we haven’t dealt with that rage. And that if it’s that prevalent in the military, it’s probably still floating around out here in the rest of the world at a hefty rate too. And apparently, however far we’ve come as women in and out of the military, just below the surface is something big, angry and very scary indeed.
.
I would have never guessed it was THAT bad.
Thank you for writing about this. I spent many years doing (unpaid)work on sexual violence against women. The statistics don’t even get at the depth of the problem because, as everyone knows, only a certain portion of the rapes are ever reported. Women live in a state of siege on an everyday basis, whether they are in the military or not. They spend money on cabs to stay safe, check behind shower curtains and in the backseat of the car, pay a premium to live in ‘safe’ neighborhoods, and on and on. I am sick of this. Men have got to stop raping.
Rhea thanks for your comment. It really is one of the most disturbing pieces I’ve read in some time. I am hoping that as we all struggle to raise sons we will evolve; I don’t know what else we can do – it had seemed we were moving forward but as I said – what is lying under all the civility if this can keep happening?
My father is a highly-decorated Korean War vet. Years ago, when I was younger and quite naive, I wanted to follow in his footsteps and begin a military career. He absolutely forbade me from it, saying the military doesn’t want or need women. “There is no place in the military for women,” he said. Wow, really? This coming from my father, a man who told me I could do anything I wanted when I put my mind to it.
In a conversation we had last year, he apologized for his previous hard-line, said he now sees how many women have made careers in the military. However, I told him I understand now what he tried to tell me all those years ago.
Anytime you want to catch a glimpse of how men in general feel about women, and how distrustful they are of us, all you have to do is read AOL’s message boards on any subject relating to women. Or watch/read/listen to the daily news. It makes me wonder what is wrong with the male of our species, that they can be so duplicitous in their thoughts, words, and actions towards women.
If what we read in the news everyday is any indicator, we must take off our blinders, stop coddling men, and teach them better ways. As far as I’m aware, there is no word in the english language which describes “hatred of men”.
Chauvinism and misogyny are products of a misguided notion of male supremacy. Just as we are taken advantage of in the workplace (with respect to the disparate salaries of men over women, promotions going to married white men with children over their female co-workers, etc) if men aren’t able to reign themselves in and act like moral human beings, it becomes necessary for us to seek redress of our grievances through the courts.
But where do we go when those in authority are just as misogynistic as the abusers?
The poster “Ilana-Davita” wrote: “I would never have guessed it was THAT bad.” All you have to do is read the daily news. Right now we’re involved in a war to “free Iraq”, a nation run by Islamists. When I think of Islam, I think of “misogyny”. Their core beliefs about women are that we are chattel. We should be seen and not heard. If popular news is to be believed, there is ample evidence that if anything, things are MUCH worse than we know. The problem doesn’t lie with men because we ALLOW them to sink to those levels. WE are the problem. Think about it.
Look at the verbiage we use. Cynthia Samuels wrote: “I am hoping that as we all struggle to raise sons we will evolve;” As if women are somehow the primary problem??!! Yes, women are culpable, but we must put the blame squarely with men. They are primarily responsible. If you coddle your boys, wink at their behaviors, is it any wonder they grow up to be brutish men? And along the way to manhood, look at what we give them. We reinforce the crazy behavior. Men consistently show us they are unwilling to change, they expect the world around them to bend to their will, including women.
We go to war because men have this strange notion it’s a “right of passage”. And just exactly why do we go to war? It’s not because some woman/women somewhere dropped a bomb, or attacked a city. We don’t evolve because we continually allow men to work out their differences by blowing each other up. By fighting.
We are still knuckle-dragging neanderthals. It’s sad.
I am report #0774-77-CID023-15371-6E1E2/6F/7CIA/9G1/9G2.
On 9 April 1977, I am asleep in my barracks room, assigned to HHD, 7th Transportation Bn, Ft. Bragg, NC. It is Easter weekend. I am just 20 years old. I am awakened by a feeling on my head, someone is touching my hair? my body reacts before my brain comprehends the horrible truth. Someone is on top of me. We struggle, I scream. He threatens to kill me, i scream, he stuffs socks down my throat, pushes my head into my pillow, chokes me, pushes his thumbs into my eyes. I am raped, sodomized.
He leaves. I report the incident.
I have to sit for a long time in the hospital hallway waiting for a doctor to examine me. When he finally arrives he not to happy to have to deal with this. I’m on the table and almost pass out. He yells at me. Later the Chaplain offers some words “God will forgive you.”
I’m questioned by CID. Who were my boyfriends? I answer, “i do not have any.” they look at one another. I mumble, “i don’t want to live my life that way.”
There is line up. I could not identify him, too dark, my long hair was in my face. Did I tell you he had a pair a manicuring scissors? That he must have tried to take a piece of my hair as a trophy? He would not leave the room without them. I had to rip them from my hair, stuck in my scalp.
No I can only see shadows of him, even now standing near my desk. but i would have been able to identify his voice. They would not allow it. I was told it would have violated the suspects rights.
they had two suspects. They have the sperm, blood, hair clippings. I have a repetitive dream that they mail me this box of evidence and I find him, I finally have a name an answer, closure.
I’m 52 years old, depression, anxiety, isolation. Loss triggers the PTSD. My mother died last year and I’ve been in a downward spiral.
I’ve had PTSD since 1977 but stumbled onto help in 1996. there was no help back then, no counseling no where to turn. I had to be strong for my parents, I had to finish my enlistment to go to college.
Sexual harassment didn’t even have a name and we sure put up with a lot of it! It was tolerated. And today I read these horrific stories of other female soldiers getting raped. The enemy within.
Why? because in our society women are deemed objects.
the unknown black male that raped me did it before and i’m sure went on to rape many more. He was allowed to enter the army, probably had a magician of a recruiter make those awful deeds disappear. In the mid 1970’s you could not get people to join. So they recruited women.
And so today at age 52, I can still see his shadow and remember the things he said to me, The case was never solved and I am not permitted to read the report without numerous black lines running through the document. You see, they must protect all those named except the name at the top: SP4 Stephanie M. Visser