Comments on: Military Rape http://susiemadrak.com/2008/04/02/09/54/military-rape/ Keeping a jaundiced eye on the corporate media. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:43:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Maria http://susiemadrak.com/2008/04/02/09/54/military-rape/#comment-143211 Maria Mon, 12 May 2008 16:02:38 +0000 http://susiemadrak.com/2008/04/02/09/54/military-rape/#comment-143211 I was a victim of a rape, in Germany, 8 years ago . I had been drinking at the time and I never reported it because I figured they would blame me or not believe me at all. I still have nightmares..... I wish I had done something about it.... I wish I could have felt confident that they would punish him and not me. I was a victim of a rape, in Germany, 8 years ago . I had been drinking at the time and I never reported it because I figured they would blame me or not believe me at all. I still have nightmares….. I wish I had done something about it…. I wish I could have felt confident that they would punish him and not me.

]]> By: Amelia http://susiemadrak.com/2008/04/02/09/54/military-rape/#comment-139945 Amelia Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:17:58 +0000 http://susiemadrak.com/2008/04/02/09/54/military-rape/#comment-139945 This doesn't fit with my pre-conceived world view developed after the Air Force Academy scandal. At the time I thought the facts alleged were similar to what probably goes on at college campuses across the country, yet it was the (stereotypically right wing) military that brought it to light and tried to deal with it. I thought of that when Wes Clark said something to the effect that the military is the most socialist organization in America. So I sure hope that there will be pressures that force the military to deal with this. How dispiriting. This doesn’t fit with my pre-conceived world view developed after the Air Force Academy scandal. At the time I thought the facts alleged were similar to what probably goes on at college campuses across the country, yet it was the (stereotypically right wing) military that brought it to light and tried to deal with it. I thought of that when Wes Clark said something to the effect that the military is the most socialist organization in America.

So I sure hope that there will be pressures that force the military to deal with this. How dispiriting.

]]> By: clio http://susiemadrak.com/2008/04/02/09/54/military-rape/#comment-139913 clio Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:09:36 +0000 http://susiemadrak.com/2008/04/02/09/54/military-rape/#comment-139913 Rape in the military has been around for forever but usually directed at civilians, partially because there weren't any female soldiers As the number of women in the force has increased so has rape. Part of the problem with weeding it out is that the military brass is all men... and you haven't met misogyny until you've met military brass. Another, and major, part of the problem is that many rapes are of female enlisted or junior officers by superiors in rank. The idea of punishing a ranking superior for what many brass still see as a questionable or trivial offense against a subordinate upsets everything the rank conscious military thinks is important. Finally, just imagine these poor women. Talk about PTSD! Both combat stress and personal betrayal by unit comrades. There aren't enough therapists to handle the psychiatric issues raised by combat, let alone rape, and the last I knew there were vanishingly few female therapists available to treat women veterans. While some female therapists are military, current or veteran, I don't know of a female therapist who is also a combat veteran although I haven't worked on military base for a while so perhaps that has changed. There can't be many, even so. And if the women have it bad, and they do, the men subjected to homosexual rape and/or coercion are truly SOL. Rape in the military has been around for forever but usually directed at civilians, partially because there weren’t any female soldiers As the number of women in the force has increased so has rape. Part of the problem with weeding it out is that the military brass is all men… and you haven’t met misogyny until you’ve met military brass.

Another, and major, part of the problem is that many rapes are of female enlisted or junior officers by superiors in rank. The idea of punishing a ranking superior for what many brass still see as a questionable or trivial offense against a subordinate upsets everything the rank conscious military thinks is important.

Finally, just imagine these poor women. Talk about PTSD! Both combat stress and personal betrayal by unit comrades. There aren’t enough therapists to handle the psychiatric issues raised by combat, let alone rape, and the last I knew there were vanishingly few female therapists available to treat women veterans. While some female therapists are military, current or veteran, I don’t know of a female therapist who is also a combat veteran although I haven’t worked on military base for a while so perhaps that has changed. There can’t be many, even so.

And if the women have it bad, and they do, the men subjected to homosexual rape and/or coercion are truly SOL.

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