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Unit cohesion is not for women, apparently

By zuzu on 4.3.2008

Women serving in the US military are more likely to be raped by fellow soldiers than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.

Via Susie.

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Author: zuzu has written 1119 posts for this blog.

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10 Responses

  1. 1
    Bitter Scribe 4.3.2008 at 12:01 pm |

    This is beyond outrageous. If I had a daughter, she would enter the military over my dead body.

    Does this happen in the armies of other nations? I’d be especially interested in Israel, since women are actually drafted there, and since, as I understand it, they have a fairly macho, sexist culture.

  2. 2
    FashionablyEvil 4.3.2008 at 12:07 pm |

    Yeah, this just makes me all the more morose about my sister being deployed next year.

  3. 3
    Liz 4.3.2008 at 12:58 pm |

    Isn’t Obama on the Veteran’s Affairs Committee???

  4. 4
    evil fizz 4.3.2008 at 1:01 pm |

    Without intending to downplay the gravity of the situation, I would point out that a very small percentage of troops in Iraq are killed by enemy fire at all. Approximately 400,000 soldiers have cycled through Iraq and 4,000 of them have died (and not all in enemy fire). So your odds of dying are maybe 1%.

    I guess I just feel as though there might be better ways to highlight how appalling this is.

  5. 5
    ArthurKC 4.3.2008 at 1:45 pm |

    OT….

    Kansas City close to passing ordinance to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identification, to protect the transgendered and transitioning:

    http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/558692.html

  6. 6
    Kevin T. Keith 4.3.2008 at 4:14 pm |

    The same was true during the first Bush Iraq war.

    This is the military you’re paying for.

  7. 7
    Danakitty 4.4.2008 at 2:26 pm |

    I don’t know if anyone (media-wise) has brought this up yet, but I have a classmate who is a Vietnam war vet and she was sexually assaulted (I don’t know the details) while overseas.

    She said her biggest problem is that VA hospitals weren’t giving her the aid she needed, like counseling for PTSD as a result of the assault.

    I think as more female vets come back home with the psychological burden of being raped or sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers, this is going to be something VA hospitals will HAVE to address!

    Of course, it seems these hospitals have been pretty negligent addressing any soldier concerns, from what I’ve read, so I won’t be surprised if nothing is done for these women …

  8. 8
    Anatolia 4.4.2008 at 4:02 pm |

    Write Wexler and ask him to ask Petraeus next week when he testifies before the Committee on Foreign Affairs why these rapes are happening and what is being done to stop it.

    contact@wexlerforcongress.com

  9. 9
    Leigh 4.4.2008 at 5:29 pm |

    Is anyone else frustrated that this story is being covered as an opinion piece? I understand that the author writes & frames it in that style of address, with her recommendations for what needs to be done, and I suppose that some media presence is better than none, but still!

    Isn’t one of the assumptions underlying the concept of an opinion section that the viewpoints espoused therein are somehow in dispute, or at least that an argument could be posited from an opposing standpoint? I think it’s horrifying that the rectitude of justice for rape victims and of prosecuting violent, sexual criminals to the fullest extent of the law is considered anything less than a common-sense given.

    I’m not surprised– just continually, incessantly, overwhelmingly horrified.

  10. 10
    » Rape of Women in Military Unfortunately Rising | Highbrid Nation | Because Knowledge is Power 3.18.2009 at 10:06 pm |

    [...] And sadly, that last point is one that has been true for some time. [...]

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