Comments on: Rape at The Citadel

By: Sylvs

Sylvs — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 02:41:46 +0000

What disturbs me is that some of these boys may be “liberating” women in Iraq/Afghanistan and now maybe Iran…

Is it any wonder Haditha came to be? If they won’t even respect their fellow citizens and soldiers, why would they give two-sh**s about “other” women?

By: Nymphalidae

Nymphalidae — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:10:52 +0000

The same thing happened to me, because I was the first girl to play hockey in my town. The assaults were physical and not sexual, however. I wonder if that’s because it’s just too hard to sexually assault somebody through layers of hockey equipment? The assaults also stopped when I entered high school, I suppose because the guys either A) grew up a little B) got used to me or C) the major fuckwads went to play for the varsity team.

By: Jeff in Texas

Jeff in Texas — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:56:12 +0000

I grew up in South Carolina. The Citadel by and large was a place for headcase assholes to send their boys to learn how to be headcase assholes. Most of the guys I knew who went there were encouraged to do so by their parents to get some toughness and discipline, and quit smoking that weed, or whatever it was they did that their parents wanted them to quit. This is not to say that no good people go to or come out of that school, but only a minority of Citadel cadets ever actually serve in the military, while a majority just end up playing soldier for four years and then go out into the South Carolina job market where they are hired by a network of former cadet good ol’ boy dickwads.

By: Morfydd

Morfydd — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:23:07 +0000

My alma mater (small private school with a big reputation) went co-ed when I was four. When I was a student there, I met someone who finished high school in the area the year they went co-ed. She said she had never been so sickened as when her male classmates, who she thought she got along with just fine, started publicly discussing what they would do to any women who dared attend the college.

It was appalling thirty years ago. It’s revolting now.

By: Sailorman

Sailorman — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:16:07 +0000

At a school where they WANT to remain all-male, and have held extraordinarily misogynistic views for most of the school’s history, it is unsurprising that they have an unusually large collection of assholes. Depressing, yes. Surprising, no.

By: entlord

entlord — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 18:33:48 +0000

I think the Citadel (one of 3 private military academies in the country, leftovers from the days when states maintained militias to supplement Federal troops) has about the same rate as public military academies. I remember when they first admitted women to the Citadel (following its alumnii’s silly “Save the Males” campaign)
However, the faculty and staff at the Citadel are part and parcel of a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” culture. One of the first 3 women at the Citadel transferred out alleging abuse and harassment and the public response was that she was seeking attention or trying to get a lawsuit against the Citadel. The female attrition rate is high (especially following Hell Week) and a national Old Boys’ network makes certain that any “problems” are handled with a minimum of fanfare.
Harrassment of female cadets has been one of the Citadel’s dirty little secrets for years, as on one hand women are viewed as “dainty Southern Belles” and on the other, drills include cadets who don’t measure up physically being asked if they are “little girl?”
Lots of hypocrisy in an embedded system.

By: Sheelzebub

Sheelzebub — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:44:12 +0000

They appreciate women as long as we’re far away. But they think we’re property and we have no rights.

Gawd. I’ll pass on having anything to do with gentlemen, if that’s the way they think. I didn’t think that making obscene calls and setting someone’s clothes on fire was gentlemanly. Who knew?

Jeez.

By: Starfoxy

Starfoxy — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:42:47 +0000

Auguste I think General Rosa is aware of that when he says:

“Generally I would say that we’re in line with what’s happening in society and that’s not good enough for us.”

In other words it’s not good enough for the citadel to be just as bad as other colleges. The very nature of the military’s job (national protection) should dictate that one should be *safer* from crime and assault at a military academy then they would be elsewhere.

By: bmc90

bmc90 — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:22:31 +0000

Auguste, I think what makes the military academy stuff particularly disturbing is that a) the purpose of these schools is in theory to build solidarity among future officers, not assault them; b) these students are supposed to be subject to MORE disciple than other students, and more aware of their ethical obligations and c) the taxpayer support these places.

By: ginmar

ginmar — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:12:45 +0000

What I’m wondering about is the offenders. They go on to go to war, to run for office, to run companies—after they’ve gotten away with rape. What else have they gotten away with? Whose else have they harmed?