Friday, December 9, 2011

New Act Could Fix the Military’s Fatally Flawed Handling of Sexual Assault

New Act Could Fix the Military’s Fatally Flawed Handling of Sexual Assault: "One of the most pernicious aspects of rape in the military is the prevailing culture of blaming the victim. Victims are treated as whiners, liars, seducers, and traitors–as everything a soldier should never be. They are mocked, ostracized and even punished for trying to seek justice.

As a result, fewer than 20 percent of military sexual assaults are reported, and only 8 percent of assailants are prosecuted, according to the Department of Defense itself. And those numbers are conservative. This, in a military that sees nearly one in three of its women sexually assaulted while serving..."

"Now, should we treat women as independent agents, responsible for themselves? Of course. But being responsible has nothing to do with being raped. Women don’t get raped because they were drinking or took drugs. Women do not get raped because they weren’t careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them."
~Jessica Valenti

2 comments:

MotivatedinOhio said...

I hope they do something about it.  It is so wrong.

Underground Politics said...

It really is. The military should be holding the highest standards of anyone and they're not. It's really sad. They're letting people down in the worst ways, especially when it comes to the victims.