It is fair to ask, even after women have seen combat, on average just how intense are the combat yet seen by majority of women who have seen it? I would say the combat actually seen by most regular American formations since Vietnam were neither very intense, nor very sustained, in comparison to real wars between serious powers like WWII. A high fraction of the most intense combats seen by American forces since Vietnam were probably seen by the type formations like armor, special forces, etc with few if any women.

I fear we're missing the point here. They are women in the military and they are more likely to suffer from being raped than being shot at. That's a problem, no?

The military exploits macho strains in society. Is built on teenagers, and provides an outlet for instincts not well received in civilian society. Why would one expect sexual assault not to be common?

I guess in every sociaty, institution and organisation in which there is a predominantly male influence on the existing structures - one is more likely to find rape culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_culture)

Sure, cases must be investigated. But unless sustainabel change towards making the structures genderequal are made - such behavior will probably continue.

Most crimes happen because the offender believes he can get away with it or if he thinks the crime isnt seen as such or eaven encouraged to be done, and a structure which makes such behavior acceptabel will have to be changed.

(November 25, 2012 at 1:32 pm)Chuck Wrote: The military exploits macho strains in society. Is built on teenagers, and provides an outlet for instincts not well received in civilian society. Why would one expect sexual assault not to be common?

Because it is illegal and it is assault? It should be handled, discouraged and interactions monitored enough that it doesn't occur? When they know rapes are occurring when women try to use the bathroom in the desert, commanding officers monitor those moves and make it explicitly clear that people who assault other soldiers will be court martialed?

Why the tone of acceptance in this thread? I'm a little sketched out by it. So far, I get the sense that people expect it and don't see a lot of women in combat, so it's acceptable?

Unsurprising, given that women are prohibited from combat arms. Not admitted to direct combat positions, subject to the same predatory behavior (perhaps amplified by the encouragement the military offers for predatory behavior in other areas) and often finding themselves the only target in a vast sea of swinging richard...I'd be surprised if the numbers were the other way around. Not acceptable (the professional soldier may be many terrible things - rapist, however, is not part of the job description), but not surprising either.

Well, it is a serious enough problem that the army conduct very public classes on personal safety (Read: rape prevention) for female soldiers, as well as classes that tell male soldiers that they shouldn't commit rape. This may well be lip-service because of the media surrounding how prevalent rape is in the military, but the fact that these classes are held so regularly speaks volumes.

While my girl was deployed, there were more than a few occasions that she called me on Skype because some asshole was trying to get into her room. She hasn't just had bad experiences on deployment, there was another occasion where a friend of her roommate tried it on, and became aggressive when she asked him to leave. He was saying she thought she was better than other girls on the base, and that they all give it up eventually. She had to report him to a senior officer, but as his dad was also a senior officer he only got a slap on the wrist. He shouldn't have been in the room in the first place, but he definitely shouldn't have came to her section of the room uninvited.

This is one of the reasons why women are kept from doing certain jobs in the military and it is sad. I know there are some positions that a woman cannot feasibly hold. However, some combat situations are fine for women, as the things that keep them from being in the field for days at a time or longer are not a problem. Rape is one of the reasons that does not happen. Weird fact. To be honest, I would rather keep women out of the military than see them get raped, but men are raped too, so the only thing to do for it is have real repercussions and much more than just "rape prevention."

(November 25, 2012 at 2:53 pm)Shell B Wrote: This is one of the reasons why women are kept from doing certain jobs in the military and it is sad. I know there are some positions that a woman cannot feasibly hold. However, some combat situations are fine for women, as the things that keep them from being in the field for days at a time or longer are not a problem. Rape is one of the reasons that does not happen. Weird fact. To be honest, I would rather keep women out of the military than see them get raped, but men are raped too, so the only thing to do for it is have real repercussions and much more than just "rape prevention."

Exactly. That is why I suspect that those classes are nothing more than lip-service, to give the impression that at least something is being done. They also have the buddy system, which again, is another form of rape prevention that places the responsibility of preventing an attack on the potential victim.

The cynic in me says that the real reason more isn't done is because rape is a dirty word, and the public (in the U.K. and U.S. at least) are led to believe that soldiers are defenders of justice and democracy, incapable of such an atrocious act.

They are "defenders of justice and democracy".....culled from the lowest rungs of society - often with no other options, many with a demonstrated habit of making bad decisions...and some in the classic "go to war or go to jail" scenario.

-Rough men stand ready- sort of thing. Plenty is done, but that doesn;t mean that what is done actually prevents rape. Let me just say here, so much as an accusation of rape is unimaginably horrible as a soldier. You are guilty until proven innocent under UCMJ, effectively. OTOH Same as civilian life, rape is an under-reported crime. Those that are reported will end terribly for the accused (and accuser- it;s often a career ender for both parties) whether innocent or guilty. It's a shit sandwich for everyone involved. Of course the armed forces sweep this shit under the rug, it;s a PR nightmare.