Sexual Assault in the Military

I found both of the NYT articles to be very revealing and interesting.  While I’ve thought some about the ideas of women in the military, I’ve never spent much time considering all of the necessary changes that had to be made in order to fully incorporate women successfully.  I found many things in this article to be particularly standout, particularly the way women have been able to “preserve their femininity without making much of it” (Living and Fighting Alongside Men, NYT).  In many cases, the women outlined the basic idea that they just have been showing their toughness to fit in and not seem out of place.  By acting like they don’t need special treatment, it sounds as though most women have been very successful in their roles in the military, rising to high ranks and defying expectations.

However, the idea that there are sexual assault, rape, and other sexual crimes occurring within our military is awful.  While I suppose it makes sense on some level (after all, they are normal citizens and we have yet to rid our society of sexual assault), it is still a serious issue.  In many of the readings we’ve had lately, we’ve seen how much rape or sexual assault can affect a person psychologically, and there simply is no room for that within our armed forces.  In many cases, it is important to be able to shelve emotions and be able to carry out orders, and this becomes impossible when issues such as sexual assault and stalking are fairly commonplace within the military.  While I recognize that we have not been able to come up with a “cure” for sexual assault across the more general spectrum of the population, I would have hoped that the training and expectations that our country has placed on our military would have helped the situation.  Clearly, this is not true, considering some of the stories within the articles.  Female soldiers feel as though they cannot report the occurrences of sexual assault, due to expectations, consequences, or simply the fact that it disrupts the norm, and this needs to change in order to help minimize the number of occurrences of sexual assault within the military.  When peoples’ lives are on the line every day, there is no room for sexual assault or any other crimes within our own armed forces.  We should be able to trust our own soldiers when abroad in a foreign nation, in order to maximize efficiency and end the war as soon as possible.