This year's 2009/2010 report came out and there was a lot of skepticism regarding it. The National Department of Defense commented on the report saying, "This may not indicate an increase in the instances of sexual assault occurring, as it could also be a result of training and education and victim's confidence in the department's ability to respond." Then a former female Marine, Anuradha Bhagwati, executive director of the Woman's Action Network, complained that the government's statement was absurd.
Bhagwati witnessed these incidents first-hand being in the military, therefor people took her word over the governments. The report from 2008/2009 stated that 25 reported sex assault cases were filed. As compared to this year's 41 reported cases, that is a 64% increase over one year. This is an extremely high number.
Bhagwati and the Woman's Action Network felt as though the government has not done enough about this issue and sued the Department of Federal Affairs.
Anuradha Bhagwati also mentioned the rarity of sex assault cases being reported. The 41 cases that were mentioned in the report, are only 10% of the total incidents that actually occur within military academies. An explanation for this was that people are intimidated in the military to report these cases and in fear as well.
Sexual Assault, by definition, is intentional sexual contact by use of force, threats, etc. To be clear, not all of these cases that were reported are considered rape. Rape is a little bit different than sex assault. And not all of these assaults were on women either, but the majority were.
The historical significance of assault in the military academies is that women have come a long way from where they used to be. In the past, women were not even allowed to serve in the military. But now that we have accepted and allowed them to help protect our country, they are still in danger. If we allow women in the military, they should not have to worry about these issues. It shows that there is still a lot of violence against women in the world and that we have a long way to go as a country to provide equal rights (both politically and socially) to all women.
Sources Used:
- CNN.com
Article Link:
- http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-15/us/military.sex.assault_1_sexual-assault-academies-sexual-predators?_s=PM:US
- Were these sexual assault cases all around the world or just in the United States?
- What did you mean by only 10% of the cases reported?
- Will these cases make people want to take women out of the military?
Probing Question:
How does these violence against women still occur, even after they have achieved equality regarding their rights and what are some ways to solve the issue of sexual assault on women in the military academies?
I believe that this violence against women still occurs because obviously, some where, people do not have the right "thoughts" about how to treat women. Ever since we were about 1, we were taught to be nice to women, and to never hit them. Correct? Now, obviously these people who are sexually assaulting these women, either have an issue with women, or are so sick in the mind that they have to do this. This sexual assault can also lead to rape, which is just the sickest thing a person can do. Now, for some solutions to these problems. There isn't really much that we can do about these problems, because we can't just go into these people's minds and brain wash them, and make them so they don't think this way. But, what we can do is probably run some courses on how to prevent attacks like this, or teach people about this at an early age.
ReplyDeleteI believe that violence in women occurs in the military a lot possibly because of sexual tension in the military. A lot of these men haven't seen their significant others in a long period of time and war is a very intense thing and it changes people. Rape is something that is committed in prison a lot, and in prison men do not get to see their significant others so I believe there are a lot of similarities between war and prison. I think in order to prevent sexual assault you must be able to target those that need mental help, because usually those are the ones who are more subject to abuse women. I think women should also be given courses and skills on how to defend themselves if put in a situation like that.
ReplyDeleteI believe that sexual assault still happens to women because by a handful of people women are still viewed as weak, compared to men. Even though women have obtained their equal rights it doesn't mean that everyone treats them that way. Not to mention in military academies the conditions are very harsh and could put people on false pretensions that lead to these assaults. To stop this problem will be significantly hard because not all the assaults were reported , the first step in stopping these situations from happening would be to have them all be reported. Secondly if women are subject to violence more easily than men they should be put through some self defense training to stop them from being in such predicaments of being assaulted. Even so these situations could still occur, so even more so than now the men and women should be separated most of the time so tensions don't occur between them.
ReplyDeleteI think that this happens partly because of how the military only used to be for men. To emphasize, some people may be very conservative and treat women at the academies harshly for being there. From that, in my opinion, is where the sex assaults start. Because I believe this is only part of the reason, the other part is what Mitch mentioned. Being stuck in a place training you for combat where you rarely get to see your significant other will probably get to people. To solve this issue, I do not think that seminars on treating each other well would really work. I could imagine those who care little for rights and respect to sit and nod to get through the time. I would suggest that some female officers be placed with higher authority on most men to make a kind of guard. This could intimidate the lower ranking officers and scare the sex assault cases down.
ReplyDeleteNo one wants violence against anyone. Violence against women in military schools could be due to the lack of sexual freedom for the students. since they are enrolled at these school they are on a strict schedule and don't have a lot of free time. this could be frustrating for a young an or women so they need that attention because they don,t know any other way to get it.the problem isn't so much women being in the military it is more the men being controlled more then they would want to be.
ReplyDeleteI think violence against women still occur because men still think they can control women because they are bigger. If men stopped thinking that and only blamed women for any situation, women would not be in danger. Women try to defend themselves, but men usually have the control. Women need to tell their stories, so their can be change. Nothing can happen if everyone stays quiet, everybody has a voice.
ReplyDeleteViolence against women still occurs after they have achieved political equality because some people still believe men are superior to women. I think the only way to stop sexual assault in military academies is to make harsher penalties for the people that commit these offences. The only other solution may be to separate men and women but that wouldn't be able to happen because of segregation laws.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this still goes on because the rights of women are still underestimated in the eyes of people today. Men still think that they are superior to women, and past history can be used to support that. Even today women are only allowed to be involved in certain areas of the military, so their right for equality is still being challenged. In order to try to solve sexual assault would be to encourage men and women to come out with their stories. It's extremely hard to talk about something like sexual assault, but the more open the victims are, the more te government can realize that it's a big issue that still needs its attention. Maybe even some more training for women and men to defend themselves can stop these events from happening.
ReplyDeleteThe violence against women still occurs because the men in the military bases still believe that they are superior or that the women are inferior to them. I do not know how we could be able to stop this because the bases already have laws against these acts and the punishments are quite severe. The only way that you could probably stop these things from happening is to have the men and women find ways that they can get along better. The men have to realize that the women are just as important as them in the military and that they are going to have to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brian about this topic. I also think it is due to the lack of freedom that man have. It is always said that military schools are incredibly strict, so men probably do not have the sexual freedom they need. I'm not saying they should go out raping the females in the school, I'm just saying that this may be a partial cause. I think they should give the students more freedom to do what they want, to a certain extent, and maybe all of these crimes would not happen. Also, as Terry and a few others said, giving harsher punishments toward the instigators of these crimes would more than like help as well.
ReplyDeleteI think that these violence against women still occur because men still have physical dominance over most women. Some men in the armed forces don't appreciate women fighting along side them in war. For this reason, these men attack the women to show that the women should be home. Is it right? No. Is it wrong? Absolutely. One way that this problem could potentially be solved is by having all assaults reported and documented in books to show numbers. If the women are unable to defend themselves from the men, they should be taught how to so that they don't continuously get sexually assaulted.
ReplyDeleteSince there are fewer women in the military than men, I believe that they are the "weakest". Like Emily said, men have physical dominance over women, thats just the basics of anatomy. Since humans are "sexual creatures" and men, for the most part are stronger, they have an advantage. Therefore, more men assault women. If the reporting system for sexual assaults was 100% not corrupted, and the ones who were handling the reports had no biases, more reports would be confirmed, and awareness would increase.
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ReplyDeleteI think that violence against women happens because women are thought to weaker than men. We always hear about women getting abused by men instead of the other way around. Women are smaller than men and cannot always defend themselves. Although women in the military may be stronger than your average woman, Brian makes a good point when she says that women in the military are weak in numbers. Mitch makes a good point too when he talks about sexual frustration. It makes sense, especially when you think about all the rape in prison.
ReplyDeleteThe violence against women still occurs because women are the minority in the military. It is an honor for a woman to be part of the military and it is not a very common occupation. Since they are the minority it is a harder challenge to overcome. We have discovered that for change, it is most effective to work from inside as well as outside the system. When women do not report the assaults, there is no reasoning for others to step in and make a change. I think Mitch does point out an inevitable factor of sexual needs. A solution to the assaults may be to have anonymous reports so women are less hesitant to make these reports.
ReplyDeletei think that violence still occurs because some people are rasied to beleive that they are superior to others. I feel as if not that many are reported though because women are afraid to get in more trouble and feel the backlash. That they could face more tension because the men who do this face enough tension with the war. That it does not look right for them to file somehting against a man in the army. I think that the should seperate men from women because they are both facing very stressful situations. To solve this they should seperate them but allow women to still be in the services.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if there will always be somewhat some sort of violence towards women in the services. I think that men will tend to feel more powerful than woman, although I can't really understand why. I kind of relate to what Jake said, when he said that some believe to be more superior than others. Women have been categorized to be weak and
ReplyDeletemen take advantage of it.
I believe that violence with woman still occur because woman allow men to make them feel lower than they are in the world. Women don’t usually see themselves as a higher power the men usually do.
ReplyDeleteThere aren't any ways to solve the sexual violence in the military forces the only way this is going to stop would be if woman stand up for themselves. Which ties into what i was talking about before woman looking at themselves as lower then men and follow the rules that men make for them.
I believe that violence still exists because of the tension between the men and women. When they are deployed, they are away from their families and reach high stress levels and men take it out on the women. Also, I believe that it still exists because some men believe that the military and war is no place for a woman and show that feeling in a violant way. I feel as though it still occurs because it is easy to get away with meaning that not a lot of women report it. Because they are in the military the men could be threatning the women with armed weapons.
ReplyDeleteWell it’s been shown that more violence occurs when there is war tension and when they economy becomes bad, and I think that’s the main reason why the percentage of those reported cases increased. I also think its because men still see woman as inferior or not as strong as men. Also in the military men are usually separated from woman, but when encountered with them I feel as though their male dominance comes into play and they think more with their groin more than they do with their heads and terrorize these woman who are trying to prove to themselves that they are in fact as strong and are equal to men. I think some ways that we could possibly solve the issue of sexual assault on woman in the military is to way is for people to be more aware of what sexual assault is and what to do when witnessed or been victimized of sexual assault. Another way we can get more cases reported is by make sure that woman know it’s okay to report the assault no matter who did it to you, and to never be ashamed of coming out with the truth. Even if it was the head figure they need to tell someone so that the problem can be fixed.
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