FORTY PERCENT OF MILITARY WOMEN AT HOSPITAL REPORT BEING SEXUALLY ASSAULTED
CNN - A congresswoman said that her "jaw dropped" when military doctors told her that four in 10 women at a veterans hospital reported being sexually assaulted while in the military. A government report indicates that the numbers could be even higher.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, spoke before a House panel investigating the way the military handles reports of sexual assault.
She said she recently visited a Veterans Affairs hospital in the Los Angeles area, where women told her horror stories of being raped in the military.
"My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41 percent of the female veterans seen there say they were victims of sexual assault while serving in the military," said Harman, who has long sought better protection of women in the military. "Twenty-nine percent say they were raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and downward spirals many of their lives have taken since.
"We have an epidemic here," she said. "Women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.". . .
In 2007, Harman said, only 181 out of 2,212 reports of military sexual assaults, or 8 percent, were referred to courts martial. By comparison, she said, 40 percent of those arrested in the civilian world on such charges are prosecuted.
The Government Accountability Office released preliminary results from an investigation into sexual assaults in the military and the Coast Guard. The GAO found that the "occurrences of sexual assault may be exceeding the rates being reported."
"At the 14 installations where GAO administered its survey, 103 service members indicated that they had been sexually assaulted within the preceding 12 months. Of these, 52 service members indicated that they did not report the sexual assault," the GAO said.
7 Comments:
There is no mention as to the gender of the alleged assaulters. It would be interesting to know how the numbers break down, and, to what extent "don't ask, don't tell" contributes to the rate of under-reporting.
Please elaborate. I can't imagine what relevance "don't ask, don't tell" has to the heterosexual assault of women.
It is easy to jump to conclusions and arrive at erroneous conclusions. Nowhere in the article presented above is the gender of the alleged assailants ever mentioned---it is an assumption that the sexual assaults are heterosexual. An assumption, I am suggesting, that may be erroneous. Erroneous, too, is the notion of rape being about sexuality. It is not. Rape is an act of violence. It is about power, control, and domination of others. It transcends gender and specific proclivities. That the military, by its very nature, tends to attract disproportionate numbers of individuals obsessed with power, control, and domination ought to be obvious.
The full article only discusses cases of men raping women. Women raping women isn't even metioned. Also in many definitions, including the FBI's, rape means specificly men raping women.
The fact is that a vast majority of rapes with female victims are perpatriated by males. Check any decent staticstic on rape, and you will see this is the case. So with it's underpinnings of agression, machismo, and hierarchy, why would the military be any different. If it was women on women violence that would have definitly been mentioned, because it would be so unusual.
If anything the "don't ask, don't tell" policy leaves lesbians more vulnerable to rape, because they are so afraid of saying anything that might involve their sexuality, that reporting a rape would be considered a serious career risk.
"If anything the "don't ask, don't tell" policy leaves lesbians more vulnerable to rape, because they are so afraid of saying anything that might involve their sexuality, that reporting a rape would be considered a serious career risk."
Exactly.
Additionally, although the full article does specifically focuses on two cases of heterosexual rape, there is nothing else offered other than your inference that the figures refer to exclusively male abuse of women.
I offer this:
Male (and Female) Rape in the Military
Florida Today Special Report
Male sex abuse revealed in ranks
Thousands of male veterans report enduring sexual trauma during their military careers
FLORIDA TODAY
By Alan Snel
Vietnam veteran Greg Helle kept his secret for 32 years until he reached a crossroads in life: He was going to kill himself or he was going to get help.
In 2001, the lifelong Iowan came to Florida to save his life. Helle entered a one-of-a-kind U.S. Veterans Affairs program in St. Petersburg designed exclusively to counsel men who were raped or sodomized in the armed services. At the Bay Pines VA Medical Center, Helle learned during his daily sessions that many other men had been sexually assaulted by peers or superiors in the military.
Helle never reported his rape. He didn't think his officers in Vietnam would believe him. And even if he did report the rape, he was certain the friends of the attacker -- another GI who bunked across the hall -- would kill him.
"The rape ruined my life," said Helle, 52, today the administrator of a 400-student veterinary teaching hospital at Iowa State University.
Greg Helle, a veterinary hospital administrator from Ankeny, Iowa, says he was raped during his tour in Vietnam by fellow soldiers. A Florida Today investigation uncovered thousands of veterans who say they suffered sex abuse in the military.
Now, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has quietly begun collecting nationwide data on the extent to which men like Helle have been sexually traumatized in the armed services.
The preliminary results put the projections of sexual trauma cases in the tens of thousands, including hundreds of men now living in Central Florida.
"This is a national crisis, but nobody will listen to me," said mental health counselor Roger Girard, a 22-year military veteran who treated dozens of sexually assaulted men, including Helle, at Bay Pines. "The brass of the military don't want to admit this happens because it's a black eye."
OK, so now you've told us about male on male rape in the military, but you still haven't done anything to justify your claims about female on female "rape".
The Network/La Red was formed to address battering in lesbian, bisexual women, and transgender communities. Through a) the formation of a community-based multi-cultural organization in which battered/formerly battered lesbian, bisexual women, and transgender folks hold leadership roles; b) community organizing, education, and provision of support services; and c) coalition-building with other movements for social change and social justice, we seek to create a culture in which domination, coercion, and control are no longer accepted and operative social norms.
Description:
The Network/La Red: Ending abuse in lesbian, bisexual women's and transgender
communities.
Free, confidential, and bilingual services for
lesbians, bisexual women, transgender folks,
MTF & FTM transexuals, gender queers,
intersex folks, S/M folks, and women involved
with women who are concerned about
their relationship, are being abused,
or have been abused by a partner.
In 1992, The Network/La Red began to offer free services for battered lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender folks. Today these services have expanded and include a Hotline (617)423-7233, Safe Home program, Advocacy program, and Organizing/Outreach program. All services are wheelchair, bilingual, and TTY-accessible. ASL interpreters, air filters, and reimbursement for child-care are available as needed.
The Safe Home program provides emergency shelter to battered lesbian, bisexual women, and transgender folks (LBT) and their children. This was the first emergency shelter project in Massachusetts set up particularly for the safety and cultural needs of LBT communities. Community members open their homes for 1-14 nights to provide an initial place for LBT and their children (and to some extent, their pets) to go into hiding when in danger.
The Advocacy program consists of a support group, which offers participants safety, support, and information; safety planning, court accompaniment, pro-bono/low cost attorney referral service, information, referral, and assistance accessing other social/legal/medical/housing services.
The Organizing/Outreach program provides community education through a statewide advertising campaign, community flyers, workshops, trainings, and events as well as consultation/technical assistance on LBT domestic violence, homophobia/biphobia/transphobia, and other oppressions to a variety of social, community, medical, and legal groups. The program produces a bilingual (English/Spanish)newsletter, website, educational/informational pamphlets/audiotapes on LBT domestic violence, and maintains a resource library on lesbian/bisexual women/transgender battering.
History:
The Network was formed in 1989 when a group of formerly battered lesbians came together to address domestic violence in lesbian and bisexual women's communities in Boston. Initially the group worked to educate the community and existing programs/resources for battered women about the existence of woman-to-woman battering and the need for programs to address it. In 1991, the group incorporated under the name New England Women's Support, Inc. d/b/a The Network for Battered Lesbians, and in 1993 it received tax-exempt status. The Network changed its name to the Network for Battered Lesbians and Bisexual Women in 1996. In 2001, The Network changed its name to The Network/La Red:Ending abuse in lesbian, bisexual women's, and transgender communities.
The Network/La Red has become a national resource and model for battered women's programs, batterer's intervention programs, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender organizations beginning to address battering in lesbian, bisexual women, and transgender relationships. We take calls from individuals, groups, researchers, and media from all over the United States and around the world seeking technical assistance and information on battering in lesbian, bisexual women, and transgender communities.
The Network/La Red is a founding member of the Boston area GLBT Domestic Violence Coalition, and a member of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Jane Doe, Inc. / Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, GLBT Advisory Board to the Boston Police Commission, Dorchester Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Community Roundtable, Dyke March Committee, Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition and Govenor's Commission against domestic violence and sexual assault.
Contact people:
Santiago Sabrina, Organizer/Outreach Coordinator,
Ariel Berman, Coordinator Of Community Services
Office fax number: (617) 695-0877
Address:
PO Box 6011
Boston, MA 02114
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