One snippet from this Politico piece on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s effort to reform how the Pentagon handles reports of sexual assault really stood out for me:
The Pentagon also estimated a drop in the number of service members who had been sexually assaulted in 2014: 19,000, compared with about 26,000 in 2012.
It’s an interesting estimate because the Pentagon also says that there was an eight percent increase in reported sexual assaults in 2014. In other words, despite more people coming forward, they nonetheless think that overall instances are down rather sharply. Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel explained this is a growing perception within the ranks that the Pentagon brass would handle allegations of rape responsibly, and that this increase in reports in therefore a sign of progress.
First, I’ll stipulate that it is indeed possible for these seemingly contradictory statistics to be accurate. Sexual assaults could be down by quite a lot at the same time that there are more soldiers coming forward to report being victims of assaults.
But, Jesus Christ, look at those numbers. We’re talking about 20 to 25 thousand sexual assaults annually within the ranks of our military.
So, we have more than one problem here. The problem everyone wants to discuss is how these types of allegations are adjudicated within the military, particularly whether the commanders in the field will retain the ultimate authority and discretion to mete out punishment, or not.
But that’s putting the cart after the horse. Why are our soldiers assaulting each other at such a ridiculously high rate?
I wish Senator Gillibrand luck in her effort to revive her bill in this new Congress, but I suspect that even if she makes some surprising progress on the Senate side there will be an obstinate refusal to take her approach over in the House.
One of the elements that makes this particular legislative issue interesting is that it truly does divide the Senate in a non-partisan way, with Gillibrand getting support from people like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and (at least in the past) Mitch McConnell, while facing opposition from Democrats like Claire McCaskill, Jack Reed, and the now retired Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin.
One thing to look for in the State of the Union speech is whether or not the president comes out firmly on Gillibrand’s side.
Phylis Schlafly is an actual fossil.
From my experience (USMC 1984-1988), the military culture was very misogynistic. Women were pretty much seen as a life support system for a (insert vulgarity here). Over-generalizing, of course, but still was pretty bad.
spink
In the military, there has always been a conflict between chivalry (which in theory includes good behavior towards women) and warlike aggressiveness (which tends to include everything from whoring to rape and pillage).
Today’s sexually integrated military requires a code of conduct, and more important, a deeply ingrained MODE of conduct, that is quite different from the socially-inculcated, mysoginistic outlook of the typical hormonally overloaded adolescent (or older but horny) male, who is at the same time being trained to be aggressive and tough.
Needless to say, it also requires fear of consequences for improper conduct. That means enforcement.
It is not enough just to treat all military as of neutral gender, that is a legalistic veneer. Even a code of conduct it is only a bare minimum. American military culture, such as it is, basically an inheritance of millennia of encouraging aggressive macho behavior, has not begun to catch up with a unisex military that has developed only over the last few decades.
Chivalry has acquired a bad reputation, as being hypocritical and elitist. As to elitism, I think we have to live with that, since the military is by its nature an elitist institution based on rank, command and obedience. As to hypocrisy, chivalry is far from the only institution that harbors hypocrisy, In fact, hypocrisy can come up anywhere. The way to deal with it is not to abolish the institution, but to remove the hypocrisy.
Chivalry does not mean men cannot recognize women as fighters or commanders. Remember Joan of Arc. Or the Soviet women pilots in WW2. Or just look at the women fighters among the Yazidis or the Syrian YPK army in Kobane at this very moment.
Is anyway else uncomfortable with M*A*S*H reruns’ casual assumption that nurses are primarily sex toys for doctors?
Probably historically (Korean War) inaccurate, but the show was imagined after the “sexual revolution” (“Playboy” and birth control pills) and did seem to nod to the women’s movement as such boorish behavior was a thing of the past. hah. What’s “Two and a Half Men’s” excuse?
re Two and a half men. I know at least half a dozen men like Charlie and probably more like a dozen. It is accurate.
Power, power, power.
The military is based on power, rank, and control. I just recently watched a special on PBS about women joining the military and the progress they’ve made in earning rank and respect. But clearly they haven’t succeeded totally. And there will continue to be issues as long as the military is primarily a men’s club.
Not just a men’s club but a very real cult of hyper-masculinity. So very homophobic too, of course. Anything remotely feminine is mocked. Also there’s a big difference in culture between the college-educated officers and generally working class and poor enlisted folks. The whole “officers and gentlemen” thing is sneered at by the grunts.
There’s the whole “We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” thing going on too. We turn them into what they need to be to do that job (then discard them afterwards) yet we need them to still behave in a civilized manner. The two objectives are often at odds.
spink
Officers do plenty of rapes, including homosexual rapes. Then there was the Air Force General who demanded that the wives of the six colonels under him give him sexual favors or he would give their husbands bad reviews, dooming their careers. The Air Force allowed him to retire i9n lieu of court martial, saving his two star pension.
Rape is what armies have done for 4500 years. It takes time and effort to change that.
I think you can add another zero there.
Short version, no but I lol’d.
Longversion. Human thinking wasn’t modern until about 25,000 years ago. In addition there’s some indication hunter gatherers were more egalitarian than later agricultural societies (at most 8,000 BC) and they certainly didn’t have armies as we understand them. My count of years is meant to approximate the rise of Sargon of Akkad’s empire.
A good point to count from. I was including folk wanderings.
As with most things, it’s complicated. Could be helpful to look closely at the experience for men in the military during WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq/Afghanistan. Both at home and abroad. The status of wearing a uniform has declined and with that decline, not so easy to attract “babes.” The interactions between those in uniform and the local population and economy around bases has also declined. Brothels and bars/nightclubs around foreign bases were one of those features of war and occupations that the general public ignores. The only report I’ve seen of desperate Iraqi women engaged in prostitution was early in the Iraq occupation and it was among Iraqis that had fled to Syria.
Local communities are also less likely to look the other way when a serviceman rapes a local girl/woman. Okinawa may be instructive. It’s economic dependence on the US military was once 50% and now 5% or less. A majority of the people on the island would like the US military to leave, in part because of the incidence of rape on local girls/women by servicemen.
Alcohol abuse is also a major element of an extraordinarily high percentage of rapes.
I think it’s no coincidence we’re seeing the same thing on college campuses. It’s pretty much the same demographics (young men), alcohol, and our screwed up notions of masculinity.
spink
Agree. But there also seems to be cultural/generational changes that are complicating factors. Good manners in the small things of life have been eroded. Some were but symbols of politeness and respect for girls/women by boys/men, but symbols do enter our consciousness and subconsciousness. Increased alcohol/drug use and casual sexual activity at a younger age by girls young women along with a sense of physical invulnerability. A lower sense of a need to be a bit protective of women within the “male herd” combined with a heightened sense of invulnerability within the “female herd” would predict an increase in sexual assaults.
A recent NYTimes article on military sexual assaults profiled a female officer that became so drunk that she had to rely on her male drinking buddies to take care of her. The one she ended up with was also drunk. She claimed that he sexually assaulted her but can’t recall exactly what happened until at some point of being fondled. What he recalls or doesn’t recall is assumed to be irrelevant as it would only be self-serving. He was convicted of sexual assault.
” Brothels and bars/nightclubs around foreign bases were one of those features of war and occupations …”
Also around any military base town. I’d say particularly in the South, but maybe that’s just because there are so many bases there.
Included right before the sentence you noted:
Both at home and abroad. … The interactions between those in uniform and the local population and economy around bases has also declined.
Brothels around domestic US military bases exist but not as openly nor as prevalently as they do/did in overseas locations. One reason is simply economic — a domestic sex worker is expensive compared to one working in a poor country.
Do American girls/women volunteer to attend USO dances or serve coffee and donuts at USO facilities?
I think that most of the staff at USO facilities are volunteers and that no one is being paid to attend a dance.
My question wasn’t about being paid to serve coffee, etc., but if the ranks of USO volunteers are comparable to what they were during WWII when the USO was established. Are there USO coffee/donut trucks today and are USO dances held today?
there’s this: