An absolutely horrifying story this morning on NPR regarding women serving in our Military. According to Pentagon research, one in four women in our military will be sexually assaulted by a fellow male soldier or officer. What more, the incidence of repeated rapes is many times higher than that of the general population and the perpetrators tend to be these women’s direct superior officers – they very people that they not only depend on for their paycheck, evaluations and career advancement, but also the very people they would be reported to report the rapes to!
Now I can already hear, or rather, I should say that I have already heard the Conservative response: “Well, what did you expect to happen?! This is why women shouldn’t be there in the first place!”
(Yes, I actually heard that from a bona fide, Right-Wing, Conservative Republican, and (somewhat to my regret) DID NOT immediately hit him in the head with a brick. But Conservatives blaming the victim for their rape is nothing new. American has a culture of rape (look it up, I’m not going to sift through literally THOUSANDS of articles to explain it) and it fits in very nicely with the Republican War on women. (No abortion services for Rape Victims, put the victim on trial, boys will be boys, etc…) So it’s hardly surprising that the first I heard on the matter would to suggest that the best way to solve the problem would be to further punish women, in general, for the criminal sexual behavior of men.
Well, being less of a complete and utter ass-wipe myself, I’m more inclined to agree with General Patton, who says that what is really needed is a “culture change.”
Well, first of all… “YA THINK?!”
And second of all, GOOD LUCK, changing the culture of an inherently Conservative institution that the Right Wing of this country repeatedly co-ops politically and claims monopolistic influence over. That’s bullshit, of course, but there no denying that “Culture change,” especially as it comes to equal rights for women, is an inherently Liberal or Progressive pastime while the Military, especially in its current form, is inherently Conservative. The General has his work cut out for him.
BTW… The asshole who made the comment that I repeated above? Said it in response to a story about rape in the Military that came out during the CLINTON Administration. So… going on 20 years ago. Yeah.
Support the troops?
Maybe we should start by not repeatedly raping the shit out them.
As for any culture change? It’s really very simple. Right now? Our military is WORSE than the Catholic Church ever was. FAR worse. You read that right. See I’m not one to assume that a despicable crime is always automatically worse simply because minors or children were involved. The abuse of power here is not only far more egregious, as these men had actual, official and legal authority over these women, and were allowed to essentially police themselves, but also far more wide spread: I never saw anything suggesting that ONE IN FOUR Altar Boys were being raped! But the important take-away here is that they can certainly learn from the mistakes of that other great Conservative intuition that couldn’t seem to stop its members from raping people. The solution is really very simple: (1) Protect and compensate the victims; (2) Charge the perpetrators (you know: the RAPISTS) with Rape, Dereliction of Duty (treason, war crimes, etc…), give them a dishonorable discharge, relieve them of their pension and benefits and throw them in jail (or as Thomas Dubois calls it, “REAL, ANAL-RAPE PRISION!”) for the rest of their natural lives.
Simple. Even sounds like the kind of ‘common sense’ thing a Conservative might say, no? (Albeit about some other, relatively nonexistent problem.)
So please: Support our troops… and STOP RAPING THEM.
Who IS this guy?!
Political Talk Show Host and Internet Radio Personality. My show, In My Humble Opinion, aired on RainbowRadio from 2015-2017, and has returned for 2021! Feel free to contact me at niceguy9418@usa.com. You can also friend me on Facebook.
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Perhaps a minor point, but "sexual assault" is not automatically "rape", at least as far as the Army is concerned:http://www.armystudyguide.com/study-guide-online/online-study-guide.php?cat=6 Not that it makes it all fine and dandy, of course, but it's hard to quantify how much actual rape is involved simply from that term.
ReplyDeleteBy that rationale, neither did the Catholic Priets "Rape" anyone, or the Catholic Church cover up any "Rapes."
Delete"Minor point" is one way to say it, but from the victim's point of view, watching their assailants get off while their own careers go up in smoke, I'd say "splitting hairs on a bald guy" is closer to what I'd call it.
I neither commented on the Catholic comparison, nor did I say it was acceptable from the victim's point of view.
DeleteI'm in the Army. I was actually assigned, in AIT, to work on a film project regarding sexual assault. I'm not defending anyone here, just informing you. Why is that a problem?
It’s not a problem at all; at least not one I have with you personally or with you including the info. And looking back at it, I can see how my response might have read a bit more… bithcy… than I intended. (I was actually feeling very positive about it at the time, but reading it back… yeah, that’s the problem with “text-only” – there’s no ‘tone of voice’.) So my apologies if that read like an attack (or counter-attack.) Not my intention.
DeleteHowever, I also have to admit to having some mixed feelings about differentiating between the various forms of Rape, Molestation, Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment. From my own point of view whether the man who holds my entire career in the palm of his hand wants me to suck his cock of fuck me in the ass, makes little difference. OK, yes, to be fair, I think I can guess which one most people would PICK, but that doesn’t make it any less of a violation. Which is where my Catholic comparison / parallel comes from. Back when that scandal was all first unfolding, I heard words like “molestation” and “pedophilia” a lot. Nowadays I’m more likely just hear “rape.” So on a personal level, as I’m just so disgusted by the whole thing, I choose to use the ugliest word (within reason) that I could use to characterize it: One syllable, ugly, direct and to the point. And at the end of the day, the exact flavor doesn’t matter, because it really is one of the few things that warrants a zero-tolerance policy. (And that’s coming from someone who HATES the very idea of zero-tolerance policies!) I’m not saying that a grope over clothing deserves the same penalty as forced penetration, only that as long as it’s the victim who’s actually be punished for reporting it, we are so far away from the realm of sanity that I figure we can table the subtleties and semantics for the time being.
But good on you for your involvement in that project! I’m interested to see what will come of it, (or if anything ever did.) If the culture of our Military DOES eventually change in some way relative to this issue, whether small or significant, as a result of it, you should have great pride in having been involved in helping bring about that change. And I’d certainly be interested in hearing the POV on someone on the inside, so to speak. I know you’re not shy about sharing your views here, and I hope that doesn’t change!
No problem, I also thought after I posted that I should have reworded myself. I understand your perspective, certainly.
DeleteI haven't heard anything about the film project in a while. I wasn't impressed with the director (couldn't even follow scene changes in a script and changed my dialogue on-set), but it sounded like the brass liked what they were getting early on. If it's ever shown I'll link it somewhere.
On my level of the service, they're pretty good about telling everyone about their sexual assault and harassment policies (and every other policy on the books). The problem is that the power structure protects itself, much like in the church. While a specialist or sergeant might get thrown in prison for sexual assault, it's not likely for someone like a sergeant major or any officer from captain on up. That's just how the system is, and probably always will be.
" they very people that they not only depend on for their paycheck, evaluations and career advancement," ... They don't depend on their "direct superiors" for their paycheck. Try to correct that misinformation. And there are plenty of options to protect women in that situation. There are little things called LAWS that prohibit each and every one of your concerns. The person simply needs to go to the authorities with their lawyer and it will be taken care of. Now, if your concern is some giant government cover-up, then nothing will get done and people will think the government can rape it's employees whenever they want without recourse. Kind of like you're doing right now. But, everyone knows there are LAWS to protect the safety of women. If they aren't willing to follow through on the complaints, that is there choice.
ReplyDeleteI see no correction on the misinformation you bring to the discussion. I am left with no alternative but to assume you wear tin-foil and think there is a giant government conspiracy that allows women to be raped with no repercussions.
DeleteRe-reading what I wrote, it does seem kind of funny doesn't it? Me ... asking you to correct your misinformation. What was I thinking. That will never happen, huh?
There's nothing to correct.
Delete"...if your concern is some giant government cover-up, then nothing will get done and people will think the government can rape it's employees whenever they want without recourse."
That's EXACLTLY what's happening! That's not "my opinion," it's according to the PENTEGON'S OWN REPPORT, you stupid fuck! Read the fucking link next time!
"The solution is really very simple: (1) Protect and compensate the victims; (2) Charge the perpetrators (you know: the RAPISTS) with Rape, Dereliction of Duty (treason, war crimes, etc…), give them a dishonorable discharge, relieve them of their pension and benefits and throw them in jail (or as Thomas Dubois calls it, “REAL, ANAL-RAPE PRISION!”) for the rest of their natural lives." ... So your solution to rape is to have the rapist raped in prison for the rest of his/her life? It sounded like you were against rape, but you are only against it sometimes? Good morals going there.
ReplyDeleteDo you also feel the murderer should be put to death?
The anal-rape line was a JOKE, jackass. But yes, in principle, if not in practice, I do support the death penalty. (Much to the disagreement of the bulk of my liberal readers, I might add.)
Delete