1/3 US Women in Military Raped

[Winnow]

http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/01/26/13 ... ary-raped/

long article worth reading but here's the beginning of it:

According to NPR, “In 2003, a survey of female veterans found that 30 percent said they were raped in the military. A 2004 study of veterans who were seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder found that 71 percent of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving. And a 1995 study of female veterans of the Gulf and earlier wars, found that 90 percent had been sexually harassed.”

This problem is not confined to the US military either. This abuse is rampant among private defense contractors overseas as well, as recently highlighted by the recent press about Jamie Leigh Jones. Ms. Jones was in Iraq in 2005 when seven Halliburton/KBR employees drugged and brutally gang-raped her. Her injuries were so extensive that she had lacerations to her vagina and anus, her breast implants were ruptured, and her pectoral muscles torn. The response of KBR was to lock her in a shipping container with only a bed, and to deny her food, water, and medical treatment. The rape kit that was taken after she regained consciousness was mysteriously lost.

Stop right there euros. This is a worldwide problem:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cac ... fcrL-2WciQ

[Aabidano]

I'd seen this before, and have a very hard time believing the rape allegation.

Sexually harrowed? 90% doesn't surprise me, though most people don't know what the term actually means, despite endless training on the subject.

[sarlen]

Bring back the good time girls in combat zones...problem nearly solved.

[Aabidano]

Sexually harrowed?

[Jice Virago]

While I do not condone any form of mysogeny, I am having a hard time believing a 30% rape statistic in any organized group. Some of these women's friends/family would have been laying some serious beatdowns or lawsuits if it were that prolific. I would not be suprised for that level in the military contractor areas (see rescent articles regarding that all over the web), but actual government military branches I am skeptical. That being said, my tolerance for rape is precisely 0% and those engaging in it, especially in outfits where you rely on trusting your fellow grunts with your life, need to get put in a Pound me in the Ass Abuh Gharib.

The concern I have here is that this is like the overinflated emo-feminist figures you see tossed around at college campuses. Yes rape is an abomination (worse than murder in my view) and it happens, but artificially inflating the numbers undermines your support on the issue and puts actual rape victims worse off. All the frat boy crowd need is one fake allegation fresh in people's minds to use as a means to intimidate actual rape victims into not comming forward.

[Zaelath]

need to get put in a Pound me in the Ass Abuh Gharib.

So your solution to rape is more rape?

[Jice Virago]

If we can execute murderers, then men who prey on defenseless women deserve no less.

[Zaelath]

If we can execute murderers, then men who prey on defenseless women deserve no less.

That I'd sign up for.

[Sueven]

Aab, why can't you believe the allegation?

[Noysyrump]

While I dont condone rape, putting it on par with murder is a little over the top...

30% doesnt sound over inflated to me either, You have aggresive men deployed in foriegn countries for any length of time, trouble will happen. Toss in a 'round eye' into the mix and those aggresive types might just loose there ability to keep it in their pants. Hence why women not beeing alowed to serve in milataries world wide for the past thousand years. Throught human history, a side effect of war was the 'rape and pillage'. An unfortunate effect from human behavior.

[Aabidano]

Aab, why can't you believe the allegation?

I'm retired Navy, I've got more than a little experience\knowledge of the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force environment. I was never stationed in anything but co-ed environments, including 9 years of shipboard and forward deployed areas.

In all that time I heard of 1 rape of a military female, and 1 assault. He (the assaulter) got the living crap kicked out of him by his "victim" then got to spend time in the brig.

Harassment and other inappropriate behavior? Certainly, especially in the early '80s. Rape is another matter entirely, especially with the rates they're claiming.

The military "contractors"? Wouldn't surprise me in the least, that's a whole 'nother bag of worms.

[Aabidano]

Deleted goofiness

[Xatrei]

I have a hard time believing it as stated in the NPR article, too, and I'd need to see more details on the survey that is cited to convince me that it's legitimate (no other details about that survey are mentioned in the article). A number like 30% just strikes me as too ridiculous to believe. During my years in the Army, I was exclusively in Armor or Cavalry units. We had no females within our battalions/squadrons, but there were numerous females in the various support units on my posts. There was a lot of "friendly" activity between the females and men on post (at least those that weren't chasing German girls), but I never heard of a single rape. Of course the point of the article is that, in all likelihood, no one would have heard about it. Admittedly, serving in the Army for 2 or 3 years doesn't come close to making me an expert on this subject, and due to the nature of my job in the military, I wasn't in fully co-ed situations. Thus, my skepticism isn't all that relevant. I am curious, though, as to how rape was defined in the survey cited in NPR article. I don't have a particularly hard time believing that there is a high rate of unwanted sexual advances, harassment, or even, to a lesser degree, lesser sexual assaults, but 30% of female service members is a mind-boggling claim.