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Causes of sexual assault in the military
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Causes of sexual assault in the military
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Military Sexual Trauma, also known as MST. What is it and why is it important? MST refers to psychological trauma resulting from a sexual assault or repeated, threatening harassment experienced during military service (pg. 3). Now, let us take a moment and think about the relevance of this subject? When we think of our women in combat, what do we see? We see strong and courteous females. But have we ever thought about what could be lurking underneath all that armor? No one ever imagines, that the women who risk their lives daily are actually facing their own battles here within our own home front? For those that have been unfortunate and are survivors of such a heinous crime. They will go throughout their lives having their own battles to fight against. Studies have shown that those who go through MST, will deal with some form of psychological problems later on in life. One of the biggest, being Post-traumatic stress, also known as PTSD (pg. 7). A research states that those who have been exposed to MST, have a higher PTSD rate than those who …show more content…
have experienced trauma in combat (pg. 7). One main reason being the fact that they are forced to deal with their perpetrators every day, and relive the incident. For those that have not experienced MST, their assumptions about it and what causes it, all varies. One, in particular, is that it all boils down to the victim and what they have done to bring the situation upon themselves. Many who have served and who are still serving will tell you that they have heard this statement in general, or in a jokingly manner. The fact of the matter is, no one should ever have to feel as though, they, themselves have put themselves in a dangerous situation. No one goes out to a gathering, thinking that they are going to be assaulted or harassed. So why should our women in uniform feel uneasy even while attending work? If we take a look back in time, we can see the gender discrimination our country was raised upon.
There was a time when women were unable to enlist and thought of as one who maintains her home and keeps her husband happy. That has changed along with the growth of our nation. Women are now able to join the military as well as serving in jobs of combat. Our servicewomen have gone through plenty and fought for where they are within our military ranks. So why are they feeling punished for being a female in the military? The Veteran’s screening program stated that 1 in 4 women have experienced MST (2015) within their time in service. This shows that there is an epidemic within our nation’s ranks. There should be no reason why our women in uniform go through such a traumatizing event. Our women in armor signed to defend our country. They did not sign, thinking they would have to be on guard while resting at the home
front. One might think and wonder how this plays a role in society today. As civilians, we want what is best for our community, as well as the daily functions in our lives. If we have a veteran dealing with PTSD, they will not be as successful as they could be. Those dealing with PTSD have a battle all within itself. So what can we do as a nation? Regardless of our beliefs and background, we all need one another in some way, shape, or form. Why not come together and find a way to solve this epidemic? All it takes is one individual to stand up and make a difference. We can all stand up for what is wrong and demand change, but first, it starts with us.
The military is trying to find new ways to recognize the fact that women now fight in the country’s wars. In 2011 the Military Leadership Diversity Commission recommended that the Department of Defense remove all combat restrictions on women. Although many jobs have been opened for women in the military, there is still 7.3 percent of jobs that are closed to them. On February 9, 2012, George Little announced that the Department of Defense would continue to reduce the restrictions that were put on women’s roles. The argument that “women are not physically fit for combat” is the most common and well-researched justification for their exclusion from fighting units. It has been proven if women go through proper training and necessary adaptations, they can complete the same physical tasks as any man. Though there seem to be many reasons from the exclusion of women in the military, the main ones have appeared to be that they do not have the strength to go through combat, would be a distraction to the men, and that they would interrupt male bonding and group
Women are often victims in war in several circumstances. One of the victimizations The more extreme victimization of women occurs through gender violence while in service as a soldier. In the United States, the film The Invisible War recognizes that over one fifth of serving women experienced sexual assault and there is nearly no justice system to combat this. One man had raped several women in the service, but still was able to receive congressional medal of honors for his actions and bravery (The Invisible War).
Ode, Kim. "Sexual Trauma: Women Vets' Secret War." ProQuest, 18 Dec. 2010. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
In the surveys they have referenced in the article, it displays military sexual trauma increases among women during and after military deployment of unwanted sexual contact in recent years. The authors have recruited and conducted of twenty-two US servicewomen telephone interviews from May 2011 to January 2012 to participate a qualitative study with or without their MST experiences. They asked the participants questions regarding about MST during deployment and other factors which are disturbing their reporting and accessing to services against the perpetrators. The issues of sexism, high stress levels, and failed military leadership contributing factors which put these servicewomen in jeopardy of MST. Some of the interview women said that servicewomen do not report MST due to lack of support from peers, unreliable confidentiality, stigma, and other barriers. The interviewees feel more comfortable opening to medical care services after deployment in the United States that grips with sexual assault cases than throughout deployment around the world. The participants have suggested to improving the MST services: by increasing awareness, prosecution, investigation, cultural shift, and independence service providers. The interviewees recognized that Military se...
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the issue of rape and sexual assault in the military. The number of attacks for rape and sexual assault in the military are at an all-time high. Women have recently been allowed to fight on the front line. While this may be a huge achievement for women-kind, for this woman, it is a very scary thought. I am a junior at Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences; a school geared towards students wishing to enter the medical field. I may be forced to join the military one day if a war breaks out and women are needed to protect the country. I would be happy to serve my country if I did not have to be scared of my fellow soldiers. Rape and sexual assault are major issues in the military and have been for many years without much effort to decrease the attacks. I am suggesting that unless the rape and sexual assault issue is fixed, the amount of people joining the military, specifically the women, will decrease greatly.
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is what Veterans using the VA Healthcare system refer to when discussing sexual harassment and sexual assault that takes place in military settings. “Much of the research literature with military veterans identifies the population of interest through the use of MST screening, for which a positive response can indicate a range of experiences, including rape, sexual Assault, experienced by the veteran during military service” (Street & Stafford, n.d.). Although most people focus the attention on women service members being the victims in a lot of the cases at VA clinics, “data indicates that 50% of survivors are actually men. For example, a 2011 review (Allard, Nunnink, Gregory, Klest, & Platt, 2011) of peer reviewed articles published up to December 2009 identified 74 articles focused on MST, but of those, only two articles focused on men only” (O’Brien, Keith, & Shoemaker, 2015). Sexual Trauma does not only occur during training or peacetime, the stress of war could be associated with rising rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment. “Research with Persian Gulf War military personnel conducted by Jessica Wolfe and colleagues found that rates of sexual assault (7%), physical sexual harassment (33%) and verbal sexual harassment (66%) were higher than those typically found in peacetime military samples” (Street & Stafford, n.d.). None the less, whether a service member is male or female or off to war vs training on US soil, the traumatic experience of falling victim to sexual assault forever change a person’s well-being. “Physical and sexual assault contribute to long-lasting physical and emotional suffering among men and women across the life span” (Bryan, McNaugton-Cassill, Osman, & Hernandez, 2013) therefor suicide rates are rising in sexual assault victims “because they adversely affect the victim’s sense of identity and self-worth, such that the victim begins to perceive him- or herself
The gender integration in the military has always faced questions of social acceptance, weather society can accept how women will be qualified and respected in the military as today. As of today, the decision has been made and allowed women to fill about 220,000 jobs that are now limited to men which includes infantry, armor, reconnaissance and some special operations units. The recruitment numbers of women have been increasing since than which reflects the importance of severing as role model for future women to join infantry and other ground combat jobs which they have been prohibited from. Women have extensively served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but discrimination still continues till today. The military requirements are physical tests and standards such as long deployments aboard ships, exceptions for infantry which male units perform better than women. Women’s acknowledgement has not really changed which stated by Carter “ He said there are “physical differences on average” between men and women and that “thus far, we’ve only seen small numbers of women qualify to meet our high physical standards” for some units “ (Bradner, p. 3).There are not many exceptions for women fulfilling the needs to open opportunity jobs in the military but with little hope which men inhale the endurance and strength that are not viewed towards
The old man moved slowly over to his chair. As he started to sit down, his whole body shook. When he started to talk, the loud room became quiet. We waited silently as he explained his story of his service during the Vietnam War. He told us of his fears and the details down to the sweat rolling down his back. Then the next man spoke about his similar, but yet so different experience during his time in Iraq.
The problem of women fighting in combat along with their male counterparts is not a one-sided problem. Elizabeth Hoisington has earned the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, leads the Women’s Army Corps and believes that women should not serve in combat because they are not as physically, mentally, or emotionally qualified as a male is and that ...
The US Military has a long history and jaded history of issues with sexual assault. The number of women sexually assaulted in the US Military is 5% higher than that of women in the ficivilian population; there are an estimated 20,000 sexual assaults on women service members each year. This is not, however, a strictly female problem; it is estimated that nearly half of...
Women have changed people`s ideas on war for the past two centuries of American history. “People are realizing females have contributed to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan,” stated Professor Megan Mackenzie (Harris 2). Although women are not fighting on the front lines, they help in many different ways in the military such as being nurses and women Air force Service Pilots. In his career, General Martin Dempsey has noticed an improvement in the culture, discipline, and physical prowess since women first joined the military (Harris 2). Leon E. Panetta once stated that women are willing to fight and die alongside men, proving that everyone is committed to the job (Roulo 2). In November of 2012, four female soldiers planned to sue the Department of Defense because the “brass ceiling” was stopping them from proving they could fight (Harris 1). The American Civil Liberties Union and others supported them because they thought the military was discriminating against women (Harris 1). Women have shown that they are committed to helping though their contributions to past wars and battles in American history.
The United States military continues to engage in one of the longest periods of combat operations in our nation’s history. One of the results is an increase in the amount of persons suffering Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2000), a precursor to PTSD is the experience of an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury to self or others. Grossman (2009) argues that an additional factor, the emotional and spiritual response to killing another human being, also takes a tremendous toll on the mental health of returning soldiers. Forty-eight to sixty–five percent of soldiers returning from Operation Enduring Freedom have reported killing an enemy combatant, while 14–28% have reported killing a noncombatant (Hoge, Castro, Messer, McGurk, Cotting, & Koffman, 2004). This paper will discuss Grossman’s (2009) views on the psychological cost of killing others in combat.
An estimated 7.8 percent of those that witnessed traumatic or life-threatening events such as terrorist attack, violent crime and abuse, military combat, natural disasters, serious accidents or violent personal assaults will experience some sort of PDST in their lives. Post-traumatic stress Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is the psychiatric disorder that can result from the experience or witnessing of traumatic or life-threatening events such as terrorist attack, violent crime and abuse, military combat, natural disasters, serious accidents or violent personal assaults. PTSD is a disorder is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following from a number of events, but the most common is causes of PTSD are from witnessing violent
In the Iraq and Afghanistan war over 220,000 women served and held positions such as flying helicopters, planes, driving trucks, serving as a officer, medic and gunners which took up ninety percent of the occupations in the military. Unfortunately over 600 servicewomen were wounded; over 135 lost their lives and as few as 24 servicewomen lost a limb or more (Cater, 2012, p. 1443-1444).
Before I describe to you some of the “routine” and specific situations, investigations, and actual cases and dispositions I encountered I feel I should outline some of the training that that I received starting with the Military Police and Basic Training. Looking back I see the importance of the initial Army training that centered on physical conditioning and the discipline necessary to obey and follow orders to become part of a team. We learned that what was good for one was good for all and of course the reverse. Each morning we stood inspection outside of the barracks with our field packs on. Part of our required equipment during the inspections was a razor. We found out why one morning at the beginning of our training cycle when one of