“Rape in the American armed forces is an issue that has quietly been gathering attention over the past decade. But it exploded with the power of suppressed fury at the screening on Friday afternoon of the documentary “The Invisible War,” a devastating indictment of the government’s inaction on the issue.
Director Kirby Dick brought a powerful weapon to his film: victim after eloquent victim of rape by Navy, Marine, Coast Guard, Army, Air Force veterans assaulted by fellow officers, supervisors, recruits.
They tell their stories in courageous detail, and it quickly becomes clear that these are not isolated incidents but a pattern reflective of a widespread rot within America’s military institution, one that betrays its essential values.”
–The Hollywood Wrap “‘Invisible War’ Exposes Widespread Rape, Cover-Up in U.S. Military”
As a women who served during the VietNam era, I am increasingly amazed at the perception of widespread rapes in the military. I served during a time when actual convicted rapists were allowed to serve in the military in lieu of going to prison. I found this out from the rapist, not from the military. I was one of the first women sent to open an isolated military base, with over 7,000 men and less than 100 women. While there was a great deal of harassment(these WERE the days before harassment awareness) I don’t recall any women being raped. I… Read more »
100%Cotton,
Thank you for sharing your story, with a woman’s experience, and putting some sense of balance into the out-of-balance hysterics about rape allegations that quickly go from unproved claims to ‘real’ myths and legends in our culture.
You are entirely welcome. In the early ’90’s I met a woman who invited me to a women’s veteran’s group. I attended because she said they were an activist’s group striving to make things better for women currently serving. It turned out to be a group of women who were planning to sue the government for exposing us to convicted rapists during our enlistment, and claiming their rapes had gone unheeded. Of course, none of them had actually filed charges or even let the military know they had been raped. The woman leading the group claimed she was raped by… Read more »
I wonder if that veterans group was just out to make money, get attention, or if they actually rationalized their feelings into a new reality. Moving forward, integrated combat teams will be a nightmare for men when they begin. A female soldier can easily seduce a male solider, get pregnant to get out of combat, and then blame the male for raping her. In other cases, some chivalrous males in command will order the men under command to take more frequent risks, etc keeping the women troops somewhat safer. I’m all for equality if that is truly what a woman… Read more »
“Sexism, misogyny and hetero-normative standards result in rape being largely understood as forcible vaginal penetration of a woman by a man.”
So does that mean that even people who claim to be aware and concerned for all rape victims are also buying into those things when they disregard rape victims that aren’t of the male against female type?
Yeah it isn’t that those activists have a disregard of their own no they are just so caught up in sexism, misogyny and hetero-normative standards that they don’t see the other rape victims?
Bull. Shit.
There is no excuse for ignoring and not prosecuting actual cases of rape — of either sex by either sex — just as there is no excuse for ignoring and not prosecuting actual cases of false rape allegations — of either sex by either sex. Historically, the military has often treated victims of rape, military abuse, and combat deaths do to incompetent leadership or friendly fire with indifference being only concerned with promoting the military’s public relations image and not justice. “Sexism, misogyny and hetero-normative standards result in rape being largely understood as forcible vaginal penetration of a woman by… Read more »
War is a bitch. There’s more bad-ass than goodness to be found.
I think this is an appropriate situation to tell the military (perpetrators) to MAN-UP; quit your exploitations and get your act together! What a disgrace! All victims need to speak up, man or woman…there’s power in numbers.
The perpetrators are not going to man-up. They are criminals. They’re doing what they want to do.
And without getting into the culture of the military it’s up to the civilians in charge to implement whatever changes they want to see happen. Everyone in a uniform serves at the leisure of the people in suits or suit pants. And right now those are progressives so they need to get their act together.
Thanks for this post. It looks to be a tremendously powerful film. Soraya Chemaly did a post on the piece here, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/the-invisible-war_b_1205741.html and covered information on assault on men in the military. She notes here: “Estimates indicate that anywhere from 8 percent to as high as 37 percent of the victims of sexual assault and trauma cases reported last year were men. The Pentagon believes that fully 80-90 percent of assaults (of men and women) are not reported. Only 1 in 15 men report assault, versus 1 in 5 women. It is harder for service men (and civilians), who face… Read more »
Thanks for that info Julie. Very helpful.