GI Jane Hell: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Here's why women are taking the brunt of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.

From womensenews:

Today, more than 12,000 service members have lost their jobs because of the so-called don't ask, don't tell law. A disproportionate number of those discharges are women, according to statistics gathered by the Washington-based Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network from the government under the Freedom of Information Act...

The problem for women has worsened in recent years... In fiscal 2006, women made up 17 percent of the Army but 35 percent of discharges under the "don't ask" law. One year later, women were 15 percent of Army members, yet discharges of women increased to 45 percent of the total.

Bad as this is, it turns out that lots of these women are fingered by men whose advances they spurned.

If a man makes such a claim, the female soldier undergoes a witch hunt from which her career is unlikely to recover. The burden of disproving her homosexuality is not on her accuser, or on the service, but on her.

And what else are female soldiers dealing with while fighting a war? Rape and large scale sexual harassment.

From the AP:

Of the women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have walked into a VA facility, 15 percent have screened positive for military sexual trauma, The Associated Press has learned. That means they indicated that while on active duty they were sexually assaulted, raped, or were sexually harassed, receiving repeated unsolicited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature.

One woman had to share a house with 20 male GIs. At least one of her housemates made such a habit of entering her room unnanounced and generally menacing her that she took to changing in the bathroom. Another had a male co-worker ask her what her favorite sexual position was. These soldiers find photos of themselves posted with brainy captions like "the whore of [fill in name of occupied town]."

While other guys might have thrown themselves on a hand grenade for these women, would they handle the asshole who was harassing them? Apparently not. But if women complain, guess who gets ostracized and moved? Guess who gets accused of hurting team spirit? Not the men.

Comments

Miss Dickerson, you have to realize that there are also a great number of men sitting in our prisons over here because someone pointed the finger at them and said "He raped me." Many of these men who were innocent all along have waited years for DNA tests to prove they didn't commit the crimes of which they were accused. And all that time in prison they were the second lowest in the pecking order behind pedophiles.

So think about that before you decide to turn the issue into another excuse for more male-bashing. We put up with enough of that back in the PC 90's. Also, remember that there are a lot of women out there doing the same thing to other people's kids. My husband and I are raising our son right, but we hope he doesn't run into very many of you when he gets older.

Posted by: Heather Czerniak on 07/27/08 at 11:29 AM Respond

lighten up. being asked what your favorite sexual position is should not be that traumatic. just ask them what theirs is

Posted by: dbnhmn on 07/27/08 at 10:45 PM Respond

The women need treatment. Freud saw adult homosexuality as a developmental arrest of childhood instincts which prevent the development of a more mature heterosexuality. Freud's theory of immaturity--an alternative category that was neither religion's sin (theory of morality) nor medicine's disease (theory of pathology). Freud offered a more inclusive paradigm. It allowed for the possibility that the adult homosexual person might sufficiently mature and, if sufficiently motivated, become heterosexual.

Posted by: Ira Freud on 07/28/08 at 8:15 AM Respond

wow, debra, you have some interesting commenters.

Posted by: anne in va on 07/28/08 at 1:53 PM Respond

i had this inaccurate notion that the military--because of its strict nature-- were one of the FEW places where sexual harassment happened.

Posted by: earledj@gmail.com on 08/01/08 at 1:14 PM Respond

Pardon the previous post. i meant to type:
i had this inaccurate notion that the military--because of its strict nature-- were one of the FEW places where sexual harassment DID NOT happen.

Posted by: earlddj on 08/01/08 at 1:20 PM Respond

Pardon the previous post. i meant to type:
i had this inaccurate notion that the military--because of its strict nature-- were one of the FEW places where sexual harassment DID NOT happen.

Posted by: earledj on 08/01/08 at 1:20 PM Respond