I'm going to be upfront before I begin this: this is going to be hard for me to write. As a young woman who went through all the typical traumas and dramas of growing up in America, I, like many women, have seen and experienced violence against women. I'll be the first one to admit that the topic of rape is an emotionally charged one, a subject that lends itself to flying off the handle, irate reactions and, sometimes, even tears. Let me also preface this with the admission that I am not exempt from this.
But I still was not prepared for the backlash of misogynistic comments on my blog from Wednesday, entitled “1 in 3 Military Women Raped, and Apparently the Pentagon Doesn't Think It's A Problem.” The purpose of my blog was to call attention to both the alarming rate of reported sexual assault among women in the military, and, more importantly, the fact that the Pentagon was tasked with the assignment to name a task force on the issue of rape in the military, and after 4 years, has yet to do so. It was in no way, shape or form, intended to blame the troops for this alarming problem, or to accuse male soldiers of being rapists.
Most of the comments were positive, expressing the normal reaction of alarm to the high rate of reported rape, as well as outrage at the Pentagon's inaction. But then there were some anomalies:
“I served two tours in the US army and can safely say that this is utter and complete BS.”
“They're armed. And more independent-minded. And trained. And confident.
I wouldn't expect that rates would be higher than in the general
population for these reasons.”
“1 out of 3 is pure propaganda. Pls don't swallow.”
“This can mean anything from a giving someone a hug and the woman not liking you to rape. God help the ugly guys, I am sure their sexual assault charges are much higher then they should be.”
“Of course, [her] pathetic methodology does even take into account false claims and has uses a loose definition of 'date rape' I am sure.”
Shame on me for assuming that the atrocity of rape is universally understood, and that to publicly infer that we all should be suspicious of women who allege rape would be considered taboo in this day in age. I understand that the statistic of 1 in 3 women reporting having been sexually assaulted while in the military is daunting and unbelievable to some. It's shocking, it's outrageous, but it is in no way made up.
It is precisely the kind of attitude that would assume that it's a common practice for women to falsely allege rape, or the attitude that any statistic that seems outrageous either must be false or can be rationalized away, that has allowed the Pentagon to stay inactive on this issue. And, although the comments have me sidetracked, the fact that in the 4 years since Congress mandated a task force on rape in the military, the Pentagon has yet to do it, that's the real outrage here.
The rates are alarming and the Pentagon has yet to act. They've ignored a congressional mandate. This issue deserves some investigation. We have enough factors endangering our troops as it is, and they don't need another one that could potentially be prevented or treated with better sensitivity, if the Pentagon would have the will to do so. That's why it's important that we get support for this petition, urging the Pentagon's point person on sexual assault in the military to do what was mandated: name the task force and call it to order.
