Sexual Assault in the US Military

To make matters worse, according to Department of Defense statistics, 84-85 percent of soldiers convicted of rape or sexual assault leave the military with honourable discharges. Not only are they not penalised, they are honoured.

"In 2004, a study of veterans from Vietnam and all wars since, published in the journal of Military Medicine, found that 71 percent of the women were sexually assaulted or raped while serving."
~ 'Culture of Unpunished Sexual Assault in the Military' by Dahr Jamail, Interpress Service.

Wow. That number is outrageously high. And I get the feeling that the journal of Military Medicine is not a journal known for anti-military bias either.

This is not our best that we have to offer women serving in the military...is it?
If the number of sexual assaults offends you, the response of the military should send you over the top - or better yet, over to your legislator.

"To make matters worse, according to Department of Defense statistics, 84-85 percent of soldiers convicted of rape or sexual assault leave the military with honourable discharges. Not only are they not penalised, they are honoured."
~'Culture of Unpunished Sexual Assault in the Military' by Dahr Jamail, Interpress Services

When women sign up for the military, they are taking into consideration that they may be in harms way of an "enemy." Many are not expecting that "enemy" to be a soldier working side by side with them. Unfortunately, some women are expecitng that because of their previous experiences with coworkers, students, and lovers.

To read the full article about sexual violence in the military, go to: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46674

Alcohol and Sexual Violence

Do you know about www.dosomething.org? It's a very cool website with lots of information on how to get involved in social change. The information below is timely in light of the recent movie, Observe and Report. I haven't seen the movie, but apparently it includes a rape scene that involves alcohol and drugs and is supposed to illicit laughs from the audience. You'll notice I don't use the term "date rape" because I don't really know why people keep promoting the term anyway.

"Date rape" is not a legal term.

Rape is a felony crime and our dialog should treat it as such. Using the term date rape fosters the hostility that rape survivors already experience from our culture-at-large and engenders a false dichotomy that some types of rape aren't as bad as other types of rape. That is a complete diversion from cogent dialog about rape and sexual violence in our culture.

Information below from www.dosomething.org.

Rape by Intoxication Campaign Launches
Submitted by vmartir on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 17:21.
Related Causes:
Violence Against Women,
Violence And Bullying
A Web site aimed at educating high school-aged students about the crime of rape by intoxication was unveiled Thursday by law enforcement officials and community leaders in San Diego.
The website, KnowThePrice.org, was created to address a 60% increase in the number of reported cases of rape by intoxication in the county from 2007 to 2008. The site includes compelling videos featuring interviews with sexual assault victims, a prosecutor, police detective, sexual assault response team doctor and college fraternity members -- all giving first-person accounts designed to educate young people about rape by intoxication.
The problem isn’t exclusive to San Diego or to high school-aged students. In a national study of college students, 75% of males and 55% of females involved in date rape had been drinking or using drugs prior to the assault.
Though never an excuse or cause for rape, alcohol can be part of the equation. Alcohol can affect both men and women, but most importantly, it also affects those skills that can protect a person from being involved in a sexual assault. Remember, regardless of how much a person drinks, no one is ever justified in forcing sex if the other party resists, says "no," or is under the influence of alcohol.
Want to do something about the increasing problem of rape by intoxication?