In Myers' articles as well as in Enloe, the way that military men seem to treat women was extremely upsetting to me. I know that not all military men or soldiers rape or assault or stalk their female comrades or female citizens of whatever country they are occupying, but it really frightens me because they are really men with power - power that they can show off and easily get. They have much more access to various firearms and explosives and they, unlike some novice or civilian rapists or "assaulters", know how to use them very proficiently. They are usually much more in shape than the average civilian man because they have to be - they take great care in maintaining their physique and stamina, which makes them highly lethal predators if they turn down that route. For example, a woman who is being held down by a super-fit soldier has a very low chance of throwing him off versus a normal, lanky, more fat-than-muscle civilian doing the same thing. Also, they are trained in hand-to-hand combat - they have taken martial arts and probably know what nerves and blood vessels to pinch, what airways and organs to go for, and which bones to break to quickly subdue their enemies, which can easily morph into female victims. All of these circumstances and more make male soldiers inherently harder to fend off if they decide to rape or attack a woman. Plus the conditions are ripe to cause perfectly normal people to go off the deep end or let previous predators troll around without much care about being caught since commanders are focused on their missions. It really made my blood boil about how women felt that they couldn't or shouldn't report assault or rape because then their units or commanding officers would think that they were undermining the unit's mission or solidarity. Assault and rape is what undermines both these things - if women cannot trust their male comrades, the unit's cohesiveness falls apart because suspicions are high and bonding opportunities low. If the unit fails to work together, how can they hope of achieving their mission? I think that if commanders and female soldiers feel that way, they are just going to push down problems for the short term and then have a whole mess to deal with in the long term. If unit solidarity and ability to accomplish missions are the things that commanding officers are most concerned about, they need to foster environments where rape and sexual assaults are NOT tolerated, taken seriously, and can be easily reported stigma-free.
Plus it's all about the conditions. Those stressful conditions can make the male soldiers go batshit crazy, if you excuse my language; unfortunately, they can turn into rapists and assaulters because they are super-stressed, grieving, feel powerless in the chaos that is battle and war (hello, Ms. Steinem's "Supremacy Crimes"), feel powerless to protect friends, live up to expectations, or change a mistake. War is like the crockpot of doom - add stress, feeling powerless, close quarters and opportunity, 'insatiable' and often frustrated sex drives and testosterone, and ability to get away with rape or assault because of commanders' attitudes and army atmosphere of 'mission above all' to one normal man - and voila, one horrible rapist coming up. I'm sick of people blaming it all on the conditions. I'm sorry, but I have been under extreme stress in my life before and never have I gone around raping men as I please. I've found better outlets for my stress, like writing, reading, and running. Who says it's unavoidable, even expected, that male soldiers in war zones and bases assault women just because the harsh conditions make them lose it or slowly morph them into someone(thing) else? I find that hard to believe. Men, including soldiers, are not animals ruled by their lower anatomy; they, or at least most of them, have at least some shred of integrity and self-control. If war strips men of those things, why don't all army men rape and assault? Obviously not all male soldiers become rapists or assaulters. I don't think people should excuse or sympathize with male soldiers who raped or attacked women because they "just lost it" or "the stress got to them." Everyone is responsible for their actions and when you are held to high moral standards and given a position of power as you are in the military, you are expected to adhere to those standards and use your power wisely. With great power comes great responsibility and by ignoring or downplaying rapes in the military forces, we are absolving men of the responsibility inherent in their job and letting power run amok down the path of violence and fear.
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