Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for June 06, 2012

..let’s see 20% = 1 in 5 = too many.

The math: 1 assault is too many.

Good on ye GT! This is something that, painful as it may be, needs to be exposed. We can hear it from news commentators but it just words. Coming from Mel’s character, hopefully it will reach a wider audience – especially, our young readers and older military who live in denial.

Is it just the culture of the military, or “society at large”?

Trapped for four years in close quarters with some of the most primitive-minded, combative, uneducated men of our society… what could go wrong?

Uncertain how to express the thought. Rapes and “sexual assaults” are acts of violence, not acts of unwanted passion (perhaps the white elephant in many discussions). The military establishment and culture probably makes reporting such assaults harder than in the “civil” society. Many assailants probably think that if their victims are pert and pretty, those are mitigating circumstances for their acts of violence. A rather sad commentary

OK, RDT64, I’ll bite. Tell us about Trudeau’s dishonorable reasons.

@gmartin997Well, the percentage of female PCVs in some countries who are sexually assaulted (by this, I’m assuming this means, “being physically grabbed with the intent to have sex with you, whether you want to or not” as opposed to just cat-calling or copping a feel, which is more harassment) has been closer to 100%. At least, I didn’t know any female PCVs in my country who didn’t have to fight guys off on a very regular basis (as in: daily). The best part was when the guy was drunk, wearing a uniform, waving a submachine gun in your face, and threatening to drag you off your public transportation (but I digress). It’s a major problem in PC that the organization has never dealt with especially well.

However, women were also far more effective than men in those countries because men can’t work community development effectively when they can’t talk to women without their husbands/fathers/brothers present. And a western woman with a career is a tough image to argue with when someone’s daughter is thinking about her future. So, we thought it was worth the risks. Not like you can avoid rape just by staying home. In fact, I heard similar arguments against sending anybody but young, white guys. Problem is that young, white guys are probably the least effective people for working foreign aid at the ground level.

Also, how effective do you think it would be for us to send an all-male military force to Iraq or Afghanistan, and inform the women there that they can do anything they want and stand up for themselves, but women don’t serve in the U.S. military ‘cause we’re too weak? What is that? “Do as we say not as we do”? What kind of message do you think that sends?

But it’s all moot, really. The military is already having enough trouble with recruitment. Automatically disqualifying the 60+ percent of the population that is female, gay or both doesn’t work, anymore. So, like it or not, the military’s just going to have to join the 21st century and learn to fit to women, not the other way around.

“military culture” and “society at large” are not mutually exclusive categories.

Principal dude is NOT going to be pleased… Good on Mel.

Well put!

Again with the showing of how much a bigot you really are…. Fascinating….

In 1974, I reported to my first Navy command after training. There were a few things that happened at the time that I filed under “Guys acting like jerks” but would fall under sexual harassment guidelines today. I ignored it and just did my job, and fortunately, it never escalated to rape.

I was part of the initial group of women who went thru electronics training, and we were subjected to complaints that we too the guys’ shore billets since we couldn’t be sent to sea – as if that was our fault. It also didn’t help that one of the technicians got pregnant, so the rest of us had to do her job on the planes while she sat in the office doing paperwork. And there was another technician who was sharp about troubleshooting the systems, but she wasn’t tall enough or strong enough to remove certain components – I wound up helping her because the guys gave her so much grief.

I’m glad to see that law has changed, but I hate that in many commands, the “boys will be boys” mentality persists. I doubt this will change in what remains of my lifetime, but I dream of the day when members of the military are judged by the job they do and held accountable for misbehavior and disrespect on all levels.

A look at the RAINN Institute website has statistics showing that 1 in 6 women are victims of rape or attempted rape. 54% are never reported.The numbers for the military that are used in the strip are in the same range as for the general population.Yes, one is too many. But you can’t single out the military for this societal problem.

According to ChrisNP (below), roughly 50% of young women report sexual assault in college. (Based on my time at 2 “prestigious” universities as student and staff, that sounds pretty reasonable.) So, you’re 250% more likely to encounter it at Columbia than in the Army?

People, numbers don’t mean anything until you have something to COMPARE them to!!

(Sorry; frustrated former teacher here. But the country WOULD be a very different place, especially in politics, if most Americans knew a little math.)

According to ChrisNP (below), roughly 50% of young women report sexual assault in college. (Based on my time at 2 “prestigious” universities as student and staff, that sounds pretty reasonable.) So, you’re 250% more likely to encounter it at Columbia than in the Army?

People, numbers don’t mean anything until you have something to COMPARE them to!!

(Sorry; frustrated former teacher here. But the country WOULD be a very different place, especially in politics, if most Americans knew a little math.)

Let’s see 54% in college vs. 20% in the military.

Could the difference be that Military Women have been taught how to Fight BACK! …and that the guys know it?

google I AM Strong and check out what the Army is doing to educate it’s Soldiers and be proactive to prevent harassment and assaults also look for SHARP training

Again, the left expected more when they decided to turn the military into a social experiment? It’s analogous to those who don’t want to drill for oil, then complain about the cost of gasoline. Morons.

There is always a large underreporting bias in sexual assault crimes. A few studies show the actual number of female sexual assault in the military at around 1 in 3, and for males it’s 1 in 5. The military culture of tolerance and “blame the victim” allows this behaviour to thrive. The military sends a clear message, if you get raped, don’t cause trouble, or you’re labeled crazy. Still, it could be worse, as it was for this poor girl and her family.

I’m glad to see that someone has the guts to discuss this atrocity publically. To rape a comrade-in-arms (male or female) should mean jail time (regardless of rank or time in service).

ahhh, but did you try to stop anyone else from trying to assault anyone? well did ya, punk?

As to today’s comment, it sounds as if you’re trying to imply that, because women are aware of this issue and persist in enlisting, that makes it either less of a problem or partly the women’s fault. Did you mean to imply either?

And as a general thing, if you consistently make statements that reflect a particular point of view – for example, wasn’t it you who asserted a couple of weeks ago against all evidence that “a vast majority of Americans” oppose gay marriage? – people will interpret things that you say based on those past statements. Might not be fair in every case, but I think it’s human nature.

“Salute”

As many have (rightly) pointed out, comparing the military’s ratios of sexual assault and rape to society’s generally is important for adding context. Even given that sexual assaults in the military may be even more under-reported than society generally, it appears the experience of women in the military isn’t necessarily very out of line with that of young women at universities and colleges – although military discipline and codes of conduct theoretically could cut that down to much lower than “civvy” rates for such crimes – one can reasonably expect soldiers to be more disciplined than frat boys.What is of concern is how the military responds to such crimes when reported – and it is here that the military seems to fail spectacularly. We already know rape and sexual assaults are heavily under-reported generally, because of the shame felt by victims, and because they know reporting such crimes often leads to the victim being essentially put on trial. The military appears to have systematized victimizing the victim. If someone reports a sexual crime against them, deny it happened. If the victim persists, drum her out (usually its a woman) on a psychiatric diagnosis (as indicated in the CNN story linked by Spamgaard above).THAT is what is truly despicable about the military’s response to sexual assault of service members by fellow service members – that often the victims are made to suffer twice, first being assaulted, and then being subject to discipline and discharge for having the temerity to think their branch of the service and their country that they signed up to serve should have their back and discipline their attacker.

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would take down the teachers… Anyone is entitled to the occasional brain fart. Richard Dawson once asked on the family feud “in what month does a woman begin to look pregnant?” A contestant answered, “September!”

You know there is a problem when a few individuals begin to defend an organization by saying— well I never did that! I have been going to a bank as a customer for many years and I have never robbed a bank either… I would hope folks in the military are not people who would ever think of sexual assault as something that is OK.

I think you all are missing the point of the cartoon.The statement “20% chance of rape” had the questioner asking “What are the chances of NOT being raped” and was told “Do the math yourself” The questioner was blonde, Gary was making a blonde joke. (Ok, I am just being facetious.)

regulation chastity belts along with the bullet-proof vests? just sayin’………

Did you guys know that the female that tried to sue KBR/Halliburton was denied justice?

At Ft Benning, one night three of we “Army folk” agreed to take a friend’s wife home after she finished work bar tending, because he had duty and couldn’t pick her up.It was 12 drunk “townies” who decided they were going to take her away from us, and have a gang bang. Long story short, 12 “townies” ended up in the hospital (yes, a Mustang can also be a defensive weapon), we reported the attempted assault to the cops, and they did nothing to “punish their poor little babies”.

My daughter was the first female firefighter paramedic in her county. She was “hassled” because she was the first, and also had been offered numerous jobs as a model. The fact she could bench press more weight than any of the men on the department, and knew martial arts, kept the “riff-raff” element away.

“Rape” is a crime of violence, the weak attacking the weaker, since the days when “conquerers” raped those they conquered, yes it was still the weak raping the weaker. “Rape” is NOT a “sexual act”, but one of dominance.

The military IS addressing the issue for what it is. When will the weak in our civilian society stand up and say that they will stop using the military as their club to drive off their own fears, and false terrors, by attacking and raping countries around the world who are weaker, but possess what we desire.

It’s not just a metaphor, it’s the world a cowardly nation accepts; like rape.

I worked avionics in the USN back in the mid-80s. The only women we came into regular contact with were in the RAG (training) squadrons and, at least where jr. enlisted were concerned, there was no shortage of promiscuous (and willing) female personnel. As it was a pretty small world, all things considered, in aviation logistics, we heard about just about everything with a ‘Peyton Place’ ring to it across both fleet and training squadrons. In all that time I never heard about rape- attempted or otherwise; in hindsight (semantics police stand down!) it all seemed unimaginable since the girls rarely said ‘no’!Have things changed over the last 20-30 years, or has any one branch of the service been more susceptible to it than another?

too right, gmartin997. young women should stay out of college, too, because of all the sexual harassment on campus; and oh, yeah, maybe they should stay off the street, too, because of sexual harassment. In fact, why don’t they just stay home — so much easier than addressing the problem of why society makes violence against women so easy!

Why so defensive? Do you expect an award for NOT raping anyone? No rape should be the status quo. Your BS & MBA & years of service are commendable, but your comment is not.

John Smith: apparently, Powhatan did land a good lick or two on your brain-box with that stone axe.

Blunt force cranial trauma certainly resulted in impaired coginitive facilities in your case.

So that makes you one out of how many? The statistics are a fact, and FAR too many women in uniform are assaulted. Just because you had enough on the ball to refrain does not mean that all your unit did.

That they still enlist and want to serve their courage speaks to their courage and determination.

Could be worse. You could be a page in Congress.

@Guard SGT If bullets don’t notice gender (which they don’t), why do outmoded standards based on putting out cannon fodder along the lines of the 18th century drilled infantry have any meaning in today’s combat situations? Please do get real. Physical requirements for the U.S. military desperately needed to be upgraded, already. The fact that the military can’t afford to ignore women, anymore—and has had women in it since the beginning of the country’s existence—just means it had to upgrade them sooner than later.

And the usual estimated percentage for gays and lesbians is more like 10-20%. If you really think it’s 1-2%, you must live in a deeply repressed area of the country.

Nope, you’re not combative at all, and I am sure there were no unskilled flunkies in your experience, right?

we can now understand the usefulness of the burka. If men just can’t trust themselves when aroused, enlisted women and beautiful women could just throw on sheets and keep their eyes downcast.

Thought about it. In all honesty, no. Never had to.

How often do you think military service involves picking up a guy in a fireman hold and hustling him across a field? How many times do you think that will be the only option for evacuation? I used to be an EMT, I carried a whole lot of wounded and sick people, and I never needed to do that. I was taught how, but I never had to do it. It’s not even a good thing to do with someone whose guts are hanging out, or who is suffering from head or spinal injuries.

So, I’d say that’s a pretty stupid criterion to use for whether or not anybody should be in the military, let alone combat. Strong And Dumb Like Ox is not a good fit for the 21st century U.S. military.

And good God, just how much weight do you think female nurses carry every single day in hospitals and nursing homes?

As for women being less likely to be raped/assaulted in the military that in college, I’d say the figures we have only indicate that women are less likely to report rape in the military than while in college, not that it happens less often. Every study I’ve seen indicates that rape is greatly underreported and underprosecuted, wherever it occurs.

… and the Truth shall set you Free.

Thank you, Garry Trudeau!