"Son, men dont get raped" - article from gq. (triggers)

[shaayecanaan]

"The moment a man enlists in the United States armed forces, his chances of being sexually assaulted increase by a factor of ten. Women, of course, are much more likely to be victims of military sexual trauma (MST), but far fewer of them enlist. In fact, more military men are assaulted than women—nearly 14,000 in 2012 alone. Prior to the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" in 2011, male-on-male-rape victims could actually be discharged for having engaged in homosexual conduct. That's no longer the case—but the numbers show that men are still afraid to report being sexually assaulted."

http://www.gq.com/long-form/male-military-rape

[sibelian]

1. Thanks

bookmarked

[KitSileya]

2. When this was posted a week or so ago,

I said that the rape in the military is a feature, not a bug, of military discipline. The brass doesn't want it to be stopped - they do everything they can to prevent anyone from doing anything about it. They must have a purpose for that - my guess is that they want rapes to happen because they feel it is good for discipline, not bad. It ensures that psychopaths in the armed forces get ahead, that those who are not psychopaths are kept in their place, and the brass gets a properly de-sensitized military.

[JonLP24]

4. I haven't seen any evidence that

Though leadership varies wildly across companies, batallions, divisions, etc, but the most meaningful comes at the company levels and a piss poor leader can cause a lot of damage (mostly due to incompetence)

Our sister company was deployed to a different base w/ a somewhat different job -- they left before us (I spent my leave in the barracks w/ them but that is another story) so they got back before us. One of them raped somebody in the barracks and by the time we got back it was VERY different. MP regularily did patrols at night on the weekends, they did ID checks for those drinking, instituted a rule saying no alcoholic beverages outside of barracks rooms (the same barracks that had a 3 story beer bong before deployment) Some of it died down by a year but it was never the same as it was.

Your theory on psychopaths isn't a bad one, there were people I knew well that came in around the same time I did and scared me when they started moving up ranks as these are people that shouldn't be leaders. Luckily during my deployment my platoon sergeant was the best, smartest soldier I ever knew who had miles of integrity and was a much better, effective, and knowledgeable leader than 1SG(he actually accused someone w/ a leg injury of "malingering" who was driving a vehicle where the passenger side was hit w/ an EFP where the passenger died) or Company Commander. He didn't play favorites or had friends which was the most common problem w/ leadership(friends would get the least details, least trouble, and most opportunities to advance) He was also the Equal Opportunity rep of our unit and gave the greatest Equal Opportunity briefs of all-time(maybe an overstatement but can't see how you can do it much better than him).

On edit - I'd also add that CID is a very effective law enforcement division, their under-covers bring down a lot of people. MPs break the rules as much as anyone else so they can't really be counted on.

[shaayecanaan]

7. where was it posted? nt

[KitSileya]

8. KamaAina posted it last Wednesday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025515467

[shaayecanaan]

9. ah sorry, didn't notice nt

[KitSileya]

10. It's something that needs to be talked about, so the more the better

The current culture makes it hard for men to report rapes, because rape is considered something that happens to women. This is doubly bad, because that signals an...not acceptance, but resignation to the fact that it happens to far too many women, but also that men who experience things that usually happen to women are not manly enough. It's akin to the "throws like a girl" or 'it's ok for girls to play with trucks, but not for boys to play with dolls' devaluation of women and using that to hurt men. Women who are raped are too often told it was their fault, men who are raped are too often told it put them on par with women. (By often told, I don't mean directly, but that it is the message our society gives the different victims.)

Here on DU, feminists were the leading protesters against prison rape jokes and comments, but it is nice to see men shining a light on the problem of rape in the military. Means that we are working together to get rid of rape culture.

[JonLP24]

3. I remember early into my deployment

A woman (can't remember what her title was but similar to EO reps) was giving a brief on sexual assaults/rapes and over the course mentioned men have been raped out there too. She mentioned CSC Scania as the base with the most occurrences which seemed very likely. It is very small--pretty much a truck stop. Just a DFAC, MWR, and a trailer w/ pay phones. They also have some shops ran by locals (called "haji shops" by most service-members). Everything shuts down at night except for the MWR and there is barely any lighting and more than usual vegetation, dark corners, and a large truck staging area. It was also the only base that I saw that had condoms in the front of the medic place "sick call". My initial understanding was sex was completely prohibited but a sign in front of the condoms said it was OK between members of the same rank. (it didn't stop a lot of it from happening on any base but CSC Scania seemed to be one of the better places to have sex).

Later on during the deployment, everyone in the unit was given a "rape whistle". At the time, I believe the female soldiers were on the road so it was just about a squad number of men in our platoon when they were being handed out. Pretty much all of them laughed at the idea that they would need a rape whistle but everyone was to be given one. I personally left mine in my locker.

[sibelian]

5. "more military men are assaulted than women"

I had no idea this was the case. Extraordinary.

[KitSileya]

6. It does make sense.

There's a lot more men than women in the military, after all. And reporting rape for men is more stigmatized for men in the armed forces, than for women. Leads to a higher percentage of non-reported rapes among male victims, most likely.