Women serving in the US military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.
Women serving in the US military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.
Women serving in the US military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.
Is that coming through clear enough?
The American soldier is the ideal American citizen. They are glorified as defenders of our “peace”, our militaristic and missionary agenda of democracy. The soldier is the a-typical American ideal of masculinity; a female soldier is a deviation from that, and is therefore persecuted. A female soldier is not the ideal citizen, she is an outsider in what is traditionally seen as a male-only field. (And this is just speaking from a binary-gender standpoint; the military has not been able to even overcome inequalities and injustice dealing with the status-quo definition of gender, let alone trans or queer.) The military permeates all levels of American culture: our leaders often tout military experience, as if holding a gun and taking orders gives credence to their ability to effectively lead a nation. We are socialized to respect members of the military, and to blithely swallow militarism as the only solution to war (and for peace). Soldiers are our society’s mortals made gods, and women have been taught to have no part in that realm of men.
So it’s no wonder that our society perpetuates rape culture and victim blaming; the military, that which we are taught to see as our greatest achievement and source of pride, our mortal gods, our defenders- it is a system entrenched with misogyny that tolerates and allows rape and harassment. Our society idolizes an idea of a man who is intolerant towards women.
All soldiers are victims, regardless of gender. They are fodder for a machine, they are molded to be machines themselves. This statement is not a qualification or validation, but rather a reminder that soldiers are people who are victims of a system, and that focusing on the actions of the individual first and not attacking the system and the systemic normalization and acceptance of sexual abuse is near-sighted. Often, reform attempts that seek to make changes on the individual level instead of overthrowing the system turn into punishment based methods of reform. As it is, even if these rapists were to be brought to court in an attempt to hold them responsible (punishment based justice system or not), most of them wouldn’t be convicted. There are an estimated 19,000 unreported cases of sexual assault from the past year; a little over 3,000 were reported. Of these reported cases, only 500 were brought to court, and only a 100 were found guilty and convicted. This rapist-made-idol reality must be smashed; we must stop the systems that encourage and validate them. It’s hopeful to see people coming forward; although the first case was dismissed, I hope that those who have been victims continue to press this issue and bring it into the public consciousness.
