Film Analysis: An Invisible War

Neoliberal Law and Sexual Violence

The film “An Invisible War” by Kirby Dick delineates the struggles of victims of sexual violence within the US military to seek compensation for their discharge, and often the expenses caused by the resulting trauma, within existing neoliberal legal framework. Lise Gotell’s article is a critical review of dominant neoliberal policies and discourses, and their manifestation within a series of gang rapes that began inside the middle-class Edmonton neighbourhood of Garneau in 2008. Existing neoliberal policies serve to obstruct the recognition of sexual violence as a systemic issue, as evidenced by the bureaucracy and law enforcement agents faced by the women in both of the aforementioned pieces.

Sexual violence is one of the ways femininity is subjugated, it also serves as a means to “masculinize” the perpetrator and “feminize” the victim. It is an idea rooted within the fabric of heteronormative familial structures which seek to exploit the labour product of “feminized” bodies without meaningful compensation. This exploitation can be carried further to the idea of a woman's sexuality, which is also exploited and leads to a culture of rape. Furthermore, the law merely acts after a crime has occurred and all preventatory insights

It plays a pivotal role in the training provided for law enforcers. They are taught to approach all cases of reported sexual assault as false accusations. This concept is demonstrated by the incredulity of a commanding officer, and his further repudiation of three female soldiers who reported sexual assaults to him in the film. These reactions cannot be attributed to individuals but rather the law as Police Officers in Edmonton expressed similar disbelief when two sexual assaults were reported within the same house and in a narrow