Women at war: Sexual violence in the US military

[theHandpuppet]

Women at war: Sexual violence in the US military
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8511010.stm

Below is a short excerpt from a much longer article....

'Heartbreaking' phone calls
Congressional leaders, who have been holding hearings this month on sexual assault in the armed forces, say that more needs to be done to tackle what recent studies indicate is a widespread problem.
In 2003, in a survey of female veterans conducted by the University of Iowa, funded by the US Department of Defense, 30% of the 500 female veterans interviewed reported an attempted or completed rape.
Equally worryingly, the Department of Defense estimated in its 2009 annual report on sexual assault, that around 90% of rapes in the military are never reported.
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who sits on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, successfully lobbied last year for the development of a Sexual Assault Database to encourage accountability within the Armed Forces.

MORE

Also: You can listen to the BBC World Service series on Women at War on World Update all this week until Thursday 18 February.

[unhappycamper]

1. k&r

[JaneGreenville]

4. Re:

Sexual crimes? Rape is classified as a violent crime. However, no matter what the classification, this issue is something that should be addressed immediately, if not sooner. This is very heartbreaking to me because they are all in it together! On the same team! And still, this is what happens? Please, let's address this hidden tragedy ASAP!




__________________________________________
Jane
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[lunatica]

2. Some of this may be due to the military lowering their standards in order to recruit

So they can feed their endless wars they've been letting skinheads and other vermin enlist for years. The war machine trumps everything because it's good for the economy which has been built around it and the military just turns a blind eye.

I remember being told I was bizarre for reacting with anger to a military ad aimed at women who "want to belong to something greater than themselves".

[T Wolf]

3. With rape and murder as an almost-official tactic used by our uniformed killers, it is

naive NOT to expect that many of "amerika's finest" would also turn on their fellow warriors.

Rape as a weapon of war is as old as war itself.