'The Invisible War' takes on military sexual assault 'epidemic' edit, RQ added a better article.

[seabeyond]

Last edited Sun Jun 24, 2012, 11:28 AM - Edit history (1)

In “The Invisible War,” a new documentary on sexual assault in the military, service people repeatedly share a version of the same story. Subject after subject describes a harrowing assault, the intimidation and retaliation that often followed, and the failure of an institution to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes. “It was uncanny, chilling and disturbing,” Amy Ziering, a producer for the film, told msnbc.com. “I would do interview after interview and these women who never met each other and served in different branches would tell almost identical stories.”

Last year, 3,192 sexual assaults, from unwanted sexual touching to rape, were reported across all branches of the military. Based on anonymous surveys of active-duty service members conducted in 2010, however, the Department of Defense says the number of incidents was closer to 19,000. Women aren't the only ones affected. Of the 65,000 veterans who sought treatment in 2009 for conditions related to military sexual trauma, a term that also includes sexual harassment, 40 percent were men.

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In the past six months, new policies have given victims the right to quickly transfer out of a unit and have access to advocates who will explain the prosecution process. Cases will soon be handled by higher-ranking officers and the Department of Defense has proposed creating special victims units staffed with trained legal personnel. Critics are encouraged by these policies, but say more needs to be done to deter sexual assault and transform the culture of intimidation and retaliation. The women, and men, in “The Invisible War,” appear as casualties of that culture.

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In April, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta tried to end that dynamic by issuing a directive that the decision to pursue prosecution be handled by a colonel or officer of equivalent rank, a move military officials hope will provide greater accountability. Previously, a service member’s local unit commander would evaluate the charges and determine whether to pursue disciplinary action -- a system that led to limited prosecutions. Of the 3,192 reports in 2011, only cases on 1,518 subjects were brought forward for disciplinary review last year. Anu Bhagwati, executive director of the human rights organization Service Women's Action Network and a former captain in the Marine Corps, said that the reluctance of unit commanders to investigate claims is not always based on “malicious attitudes.” Instead, “sometimes there’s just sort of like this misplaced benevolence.” The accused, for example, might have a family and lifelong career, both of which a commander is loath to endanger when it might be difficult to prove an assault. “But what about the victim?” Bhagwati said. “Who’s protecting her?”

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/21/12304042-documentary-film-the-invisible-war-takes-on-military-sexual-assault-epidemic?lite&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

[laconicsax]

1. They actually put scare quotes around epidemic.

[BlueIris]

2. This horrifying epidemic is a great shame on this nation. nt

[redqueen]

3. Don't the scare quotes just say it all...

This feminist analysis is of course a much better take on it.

http://thefeministwire.com/2012/06/the-invisible-war-a-review/

My favorite parts:

"However, though the film gives voice to victims of rape (and their families) within the military, therefore breaking the silence perpetuated by a complicit media, it misses a critical opportunity to expand the discussion to explore the effects and entwinement of militarism, patriarchy and misogyny in our broader socio-political context. At times, The Invisible War seems to even downplay how patriarchy and American institutions/ideology(ies) actually sanction and give life to rape culture(s). In short, in trying to spotlight the injustice facing men and women in the military, and the systematic camouflaging (pun intended) at each level in the chain of command, The Invisible War misses the opportunity to make some pretty significant connections.

A more efficient grasping of sexual violence within the military requires looking at its deployment of gendered language as well as the ways in which women are objectified within and without military culture. It also demands that we look at “base women,” the relationship between U.S. operations overseas and prostitution, as well as the ways that sexism infects U.S. policies. In addition, a more critical reading of sexual violence pushes us to explore the treatment of women within the U.S. military, particularly those serving in countries currently occupied by the U.S.

Feminist theorist Cynthia Enloe, in her essay, “Wielding Masculinity inside Abu Ghraib: Making Feminist Sense of an American Military Scandal,” identifies misogyny and sexism as core values of militarism, thus pushing readers to think about their manifestation(s) both inside the U.S. military and without.

Enloe makes it clear that sexism, sexual violence, and misogyny are central components to militarism, thus representing the ideological foundation of a militarized culture that is consequentially exhaustively threatening to women and non-gender-conforming others. She highlights the level of violence in elucidating levels of sexual violence and misogyny surrounding U.S. bases:

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