The Enemy Within:US Female Soldiers Raped.

Rape only about power. Not entirely true.

What about a virgin boy that dates a girl for 6 months and then date rapes her, because he has blue balls. This is a true story.

Yes it can be about power, but it can also be about needing that release so bad the boy loses his mind for a few moments.

However this is very rare, but it has happened.

Originally posted by Vault-D

Even rounding up, 3000 sexual crimes in a pool of 3 million total DoD employees (factor: 0.0007)...versus the "0.5 per 1000" rapes in the US population (0.0005) reported by the DoJ. Maybe my math is off, but it seems fairly close (0.0007 versus 0.0005) and that US rate only includes the rape crimes...the ratio would be even closer if it included all sexual assaults. Can someone else find some more hard evidence of the civilian US rates of sexual assault? That'd be a good point of comparison.

You should not be using the 3 million DoD employees number. Given that these statistics relate to rapes in Iraq, you need to do 3000/150K (approximation of US personnel serving in Iraq, please correct me if this figure has changed). This gives you a figure of roughly 2% of the total population being assaulted in Iraq. This is roughly a 2800% increase versus the overall US population. This really puts things into a better perspective, quite alarming really. In all honesty, for a more accurate figure, you need to compare the 3000 assaults to the number of females serving in Iraq. This would tell you what the chance of being female and being assaulted would be.

By doing a quick google search, it seems to me that there are roughly 20K women serving in Iraq. That means that roughly 1 in 7 women serving in Iraq are assaulted. Wow, this is really scary. Knowing this, is it really wise to allow your daughter, or sister, or wife to serve in Iraq. I think I would have to say NO.

reply to post by calihan123

Only spoken from a woman, justifying men who rape women. Rape is an act of control. A man knows the limits of sex. Sex is legal only between two consenting adults. Rape is NOT an urge of which a person has no control over. That is the reason human's are given a superior mind, to be able to process logical thinking. If the issue were a matter of being horney, there is the option of self gratification. Never is there an excuse for a man to force sex on a woman.

During basic military training my flight attended a class of self defense in which we were were lectured on strategies of survival in the event an enemy would take us captive. We were taught that the first thing the an enemy captor would do to us would be to rape us...a control/domination mechanism to break us down. The purpose of the class was to teach us the strategies of getting through without being killed by the enemy. We expected that an enemy would do that in order to dominate us if captured. In joining the military, never at any time were we to anticipate being raped by "one of our own allies."

There is a world of readily available information about rape. I think anyone who in any way downplays rape or tries to justify it, needs to educate themselves. If you could expand your mind by reading and filling it with the realities about rape, then you would not think within a box. The very women who get upset that their lover would cheat on them with another woman are the likely ones who would make an excuse for a man raping a woman...How ironic. Women historically didn't even have the right to vote. They were naturally created to bare children and nurture them, whether or not a man remains by their side. In this liberated world we now live, women must maintain a sense of independence in order to make it in society. It is an attitude such as that which keep women at bay, and struggling to obtain equality in society. I am not saying that women should hang their bras on a stake and march around like Greek Amazons. Women were put on this earth by the grace of our maker to be cherished and respected by men. Our current laws are written to provide equal rights and that all citizens enjoy the pursuit of liberty, peace and happiness. Defending men for raping women is like regressing to the medeval times. It's ironic that the very women who are the first to judge are the very women who remain in a primitive mode of thinking.

Originally posted by Blue_Jay33


Yes it can be about power, but it can also be about needing that release so bad the boy loses his mind for a few moments.

That is pitiful logic.

A boy who rapes a girl is a monster - not a 'boy'.

reply to post by ATS4dummies
Very well stated. Thank you!

reply to post by TruthTellist
If the boy needs a release that bad, then he needs to go to the latrine and let his hand become his best friend. People get hard up for money. Rather than rob a bank, they have a yard sale or something...they don't rob a bank for instant gratification, just like men know better than to ever rape. They know very well they are out of line. They are just downright mean.

Just in case anyone did not take the time to read my entire post;

1 in 7 Women Serving in Iraq are Assaulted

This is a very, very disturbing figure. Please read my post above to see how I came to this figure. Be sure to notice that this figure is a 2800% increase versus the general US population.

edit to add: This means that you are more likely to be a woman serving in Iraq who is assaulted than you are likely to win a food prize in the McDonalds monopoly game. I know I for one have won several food prizes.

[edit on 3-11-2008 by BluegrassRevolutionary]

I think its pretty obvious that a plethora of issues are related to rape, its not as simple as being "horny", not having "restraint" or just "mental issues".

This discussion has become hijacked by some people looking for arguments, I think its run its course.

This surprises me, really....
But i guess running an unstable war ( which war is?...) leaves for unstable basses and soldiers. I feel sorry for the woman wanting to serve their country ending up serving their soldiers. I never was a huge fan of woman in uniform ( strongly dislike the site of it ) but if they feel the need to serve their country,....

Get kids and educate them the best way you can and love them to death! For that is in my opinion a way better way for serving your country than going off and fighting a war you probably don't even now what its about.....

Edited for spelling*

[edit on 3-11-2008 by Sfen Senterra]

*mod edit: "And take the points mod. I dont give a crap."
I'll take the points, and give you a PostBan as a cherry on the cake. Keep it up and I'll take your whole account.




[edit on 3-11-2008 by alien]

reply to post by jakyll
Before women were allowed to join the military, divorce was also very rare. The nuclear family is now the minority, thus women must take leading roles in life.

Originally posted by TheOracle
reply to post by raven bombshell

 

I guess we can only warn women recruits what they are up against. Are they at least allowed to bring their personal security device on camp? pepper sprays, tasers and alarms?

Oracle- It depends on the State laws or the laws where you live in foreign countries. I have been on military installations where you could own a weapon in base housing as long as law enforcement had the info on file, and I have been on some where you had to keep your personal firearms at the armory (not much help). I In the dorms you cannot own any firearms or knives more than a certain length, like more than a small pocket knife. I was not a military cop so i didn't get a weapon issued unless I was firing for qualification. We dont always get a weapon to deploy either. If I wanted to learn self defense it was on my own time and my own dime- no different than any civilian. always carried pepper spray as a deterrent anyway and a bat and glove in the car (glove so it looks like I play softball). I didn't care if it was legal or not to carry pepper spray.

And to some others:
When you are at work you have a reasonable expectation that your coworkers are not going to attack you. As military in the field you have to be alert for enemy and be hyper vigilant out there in the theater but you should not have to also worry that your fellow soldiers are going to assault you as well. Do you think the men constantly worry that the guys with them will pounce on them and rape them in the dead of night? No. of course not. Women should not have to worry about that either.
I don't get why people think its better for female soldiers to be raped than female civilians- why is it "easier to stomach"? That makes no damn sense- its like telling the men go ahead and rape the soldiers but not the civilians. "Boy those women soldiers know its coming so do it to them." That is not a decent mindset to have at all. We are all human and deserving of respect and dignity. I volunteered 12 years to the military. It wasn't a sentence for a crime. I'm reading these posts and seeing that people think because they feel women have no place in the military that these female soldiers deserve to be raped and should accept rape from their fellow soldiers as part of the territory- how obscene! There are some truly disghusting people on this board. This could be your mother, sister, daughter, or wife, and it should make you sick whether she is military or not.

If your daughter came home a rape victim would you say, "Gee dear, that is why women shouldn't be in the military."

"Thanks for going to war and fighting for our country, Bob. Nancy, you should not have gone to war and fought for our country- that is why you got raped. What is wrong with you?"

Yeah some folks don't like women to be in the military, but they ARE in the military. They serve just as proudly as men, and they should be afforded the same respect. To tell me that I should expect to be raped by my comrades as part of my service to this country is like saying to a civilian woman she should expect it if she goes to work in any place where there are men.

I always kept the possibility of being a POW and subsequently the possibility of rape by the ENEMY in mind when I was active duty. It was a real fear and yes- a risk I took. NOTHING I signed said that I would have to be a sex toy or victim for the male soldiers. That is not acceptable!

reply to post by raven bombshell
Raven bombshell, from a fellow women vet, I loved reading your summary. Keep up the perserverence. It's ON!

We need people like you and me to keep speaking out. It's been the pioneers who have helped the subordinates in society bit by bit in obtaining rights and any sense of worth.

Love ya
Angel

reply to post by TheOracle
Here's the clincher about fighting a rapist...it could cost your life. We were taught in the military that you scream like hell if you think someone close enough by can hear you. If you are not in a situation where someone can hear, your go along with the rapist, not to provoke him in any way that he might kill you. The thing is to try to do whatever you can so the rapist will spare your life. When someone has a weapon, no you do not fight them.

No, in the military, they don't teach marshal arts and such as your see Wonder Woman performing in the movies. You're still a woman, who is taught to use an M16. Women are not taught to physically fight men in the combat zone. It might surprise you that men and women are put through the same groung combat training.

We were taught the use of the M16, along with the chemical warfare training. That was we walked into a large gas chamber of which we had to apply a gas mask after the gas was in the air. Also, we were taught to unlock a syringe and jab it into our thigh in the event we we were being invaded by chemical gases. But no, we were not taught to be Charle's Angels where we could throw our legs in the air and knock the man in the head with our feet.

For your own well-being, if a man ever forces you down or pulls a weapon on you, you are defenseless because a woman is not physically designed to fight a man.

Originally posted by Blue_Jay33
Yes it can be about power, but it can also be about needing that release so bad the boy loses his mind for a few moments.

I don't buy that men lose their minds suddenly and can't help but rape someone.
They know exactly what they are doing unless they have some sort of mental defect.

Even if it were true what give anyone the right to subject another to their sexual frustration against their will simply because that person needs a "release"?

Go release somewhere in private.

- Lee

maybe those "frustrated" male soldiers should try raping the arabic women. I'm sure our government would either put them in Levenworth, if the iraqis don't kill them first.

reply to post by angelblu
I think the problem with people who justify rape is that they are in denial. They have a hard time confronting the fact that "one of their kind" of people might actually be capable of committing such a depraved act.

reply to post by WishForWings
If you've ever taken a sociology course you would know that women have had major roles throughout the wars. The so-called "Greek Amazons" were actually, in primitive times, women who literally fought in war with weapons.

During our world wars women went to work in the factories while the men were away in the war. Women filled the work roles on the homefront in the absence of the men in our country.

Over a century ago, a woman in my hometown pulled a rifle on and fought off land developers who attempted to cut down the live oak trees. Today the trees are what make the beauty of the historic riverfront town here. If not for a woman warrier, the 200 or so fat oaks would not the glorious protected species they are here today.

I know that I will be yelled at but did anyone notice the OP's sources?

Also in one of those articles it said that when a subordinate has sex with a higher ranking individual the military considers it "rape". My point... in all those stats how many are actual "forced at gun/knife point" rapes and how many are two people who got caught?

I'm not dumb and I know that forced rape happens in the military but I also know that a large percentage of women in the military will give it up without a problem or to "further" their careers. These women aren't harrased into or even fight the passes of a superior officer. But then the two get caught and the military calls it rape.

Anyway...

If we are talking about female warriors, just look back to Ancient Briton. The women fought and died alongside their men in battle. They were jusr as brave and just as agressive.

It was a woman that successfully defeated the Roman Army at Colchester and sacked London with her troops.

The Amazons of Homer were amongst the finest soldiers of Asia.