military rape

Here's another dark chapter of our epic saga:  rape.

Not rape in the historical sense, where the victors of war would, after killing enough of the men, keep the conquered female adults (and children) and rape them as a reward.  Lots of that in history, and in the Bible, you know.  

Not rape in the abstract or metaphorical sense, like what the big banks did to the rest of us in the 2008 financial crisis, but the brutal sexual violation of a female while in the U.S. military by another member of that same military.  

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You might have once heard about the high incidence of female soldiers being raped but stuffed it away in a cramped corner of your mind, duly noting the absurdity.  

If you do any research on this sorry topic, you will see it said and repeated that a women is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed in a battle.  

That sounds horrible, but they don't differentiate the numbers between those on active duty and those who are stateside in non-combat.  To me, even one rape is too many, but some estimates suggest that ONE OF EVERY THREE WOMEN will be raped while in the military.  33%?!  Is that possible?!

So ... what's that I keep hearing about our military being the greatest military in the world?  And every last one of them is a hero?

In 2010, there were 3,100 reported rapes in the U.S. military.   That's reported.  The Pentagon estimated that there were about 19,000 rapes in 2010; yet only 3,100 were reported.  The great disparity is because many women are simply not believed when they claim they were raped, or they are told to "just get over it."  

Can you imagine?

You join the military to serve your country, you get raped by your commanding officer, for instance, and no one will believe you!!  What a country!!

We obviously have a long, long way to go before women achieve true equality in this society.  While women may have it far better in Western nations than women in some Muslim countries, that is cold comfort when you have just been raped by your superior, or beat up by your husband or boyfriend.  But that's a different post.  

Viva the sexual revolution!  Look at all the attempts by the GOP to curtail women's right to control their own bodies.  The Neanderthals want to drag women by their hair back to the good old days, and it's going to take a continual struggle to beat them back.  

We know that Islam is the primary reason women in the Muslim world are so subjugated.  We're supposed to be better than that here in the West, but the way American women get treated in the U.S. military is a toxic shame that must be rooted out.

We also hear that now U.S. women will be allowed into combat roles.  Hey, maybe now they will have a greater chance of being killed in combat than being raped by a fellow soldier.  Until women can serve their country without fear of being raped, we are a long way off from true equality.