I Thought The Picture Was Relevant But Most Likely Controversial...We'll See
The article titled: A Peril in War Zones: Sexual Abuse by Fellow G.I.’s presents an issue that is most likely a thousand times more common than the majority of Americans are aware of. The problem of sexual harassment in the military is something that was not very much of an issue up until recent years. As the article says, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are the first multi-front wars that require women to live alongside men for months and sometimes longer. I definitely would never say it wouldn't be naive to think otherwise, however it should not be this way. This article tells the story of Capt. Margaret H. White, who was harassed and stalked by an officer that she began a relationship with. The article says that, "Captain White said she had feared coming forward, despite having become increasingly despondent and suffered panic attacks, because she was wary of she-said-he-said recriminations that would reverberate through the tightknit military world and disrupt the mission." This does not seem to be very different from how woman in the real-world may feel when presented with the same predicament in the civilian world. This only serves to reinforce the statistic that we learned in class stating that the majority of victims were targeted by those that they had previously or were currently in a relationship, and that its often a person the woman knows. In the military and otherwise, this is definitely something no woman should ever have to deal with.
"Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In", deals more with the problems that may arise sometimes due to the fact that women and men live and work together in the field. One part of the article that i felt was particularly interesting was the paragraph talking about Sgt. Joelene M. Lachance. She says that she has kicked her "guys" out of the truck so that she could pee in a bottle. She also maintains that wherever her "guys" are sleeping, she's sleeping, and recalls a time that she stayed in a truck for five days and she even slept in the truck with them, and she tries not to complain about not being able to sleep somewhere, or things of that sort. This is something that I feel it is important to point out. There is no reason that women should be treated any differently than men in the military. However, they should not be treated any differently than the men that they are in the trenches with...to an extent obviously. So a woman shouldn't have to shower with men if she doesn't want to, she shouldn't have to sleep in the same barracks with them if she doesn't want to, and certain other select situations. But for the most part it should all be an equal field. Which would involve equal promotions and such also. But as long as a woman isn't looking to be treated any differently, I think that within years there will be major advancements in the way that women and men interact in the military.
Oh and look at this link...it's ridiculous but completely relevant to what we talked about in class
The first part of Marcus's post and the article he is referring to ties in very well with one of the accounts that we read last class about the woman who was forced to look at a strange man's genitalia. Her solution to in dealing with the problem was to take self defense classes that ultimately gave her the confidence to face another attacker if need be. However, women in the military are not only trained in self defense, but they are also trained to kill if the situation were to arise, and being in a war zone, I assume it would be commonplace. I am talking more to the bases that shared with the occupied nation's war effort, the bases shared with Iraqi soldiers. The woman said in the article that they try to stay in pairs when entering these situations. I want to make the point that even though these women are trained to kill, they still are weary of the people around them as should the woman from the reading for last class. Still sexual harassment or assault should not be tolerated in any setting, regardless of what else may be happening around.
ReplyDeleteThe next part of his post, Marcus talks about the second New York TImes article and I have come to understand it in such that women should be treated equally. Isn't this the whole reason why we are in this class discussing the issues we have because women are not treated equal. This is not only a dilemma in the military. From these two articles, i have gathered that the military is almost a reflection of american society and therefore, society or the "patriarchy" needs to be changed and what a momentous task that will be.
I agree with Andrew. As much as we like to think that women are equal to men, in the workplace or in a home environment we all know that is not the case. The military is no different. I agree that regardless, sexual harassment or assault should never be tolerated in any setting. However, for some reason I believe that those in the armed forces should be held to a higher standard. Maybe it's just because I see our country's finest on a different level than the scum that's lurking around at night. Or maybe it's because when a soldier walks through an airport with his uniform on, he gets a round of applause. Whatever the case may be, I think that the majority of us feel this way. That's why we seem more surprised when we hear about women in military getting harassed, rather than women in Queens getting raped.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts on these two articles, Logan, Andrew, and Marcus. Logan, you raise a really interesting point in your post that I think all three of these posts allude to: why is it that we assume those in the armed forces are more noble than the average American citizen? Does this relate to our tendency to think of those who perpetrate violence against women as pathological, diseased, and crazy, rather than "normal" men?
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