The Invisible War - Essay Sample

Introduction

Sexual assault is a nerve-racking topic; therefore, the documentary on how military personnel prey on women or men yet little to no action was taken against them is highly disturbing. Sexual assault refers to the forced sexual contact that is illegal (Barron, Kapilevich, Duffy, McGregor & Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Ethics Committee, 2016.). There is a case of a veteran who tells of her gruesome experience with a senior commander during her time in the military. She was physically abused and raped, causing damage to her jaws.

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My Thoughts and Reactions as I Watched the Film

Due to the psychological stress associated with rape, being married pauses a challenge to her, at times surviving on antidepressants, having intimacy issues and general health problems as a result of the incident. Watching the documentary stirs emotions of fury and sadness for these victims and anger towards the perpetrators who were allowed to walk away without being convicted. Not only are Army Commanders not taking these cases seriously, but they're also going an extra mile of sweeping the complaints under the rug. Being a woman, it is utterly painful having to watch what our heroines go through as they diligently serve our country.

Implication About Masculinity in the Armed Forces

In the film, Dr. Russell Strands says," masculinity cannot be victimized. Because if you're a leader-a masculine person-and,you're victimized, then you're weak." This statement shows that masculinity leaves no room for the male victims, those who cannot stand up for themselves. These men are humiliated, sodomized and bullied, and hardly speak up and report these incidences due to shame and feelings of weakness. The military does not take the weak kindly and are hence another source of bullying to them. Masculinity in this aspect can be termed as the ability to overpower and perpetrate. A psychiatrist in the US Army, Brigadier General Loree Sulton says that these recruits consider themselves family, therefore when the trust is broken, it cuts to the deepest cores of one's being.

Evidence Brought Forward to Counter the Court Ruling on "Occupational Hazards"

An occupational hazard is defined as a risk associated with a particular occupation (Wilson, Miller, Mahan & Krupp, 2015). In my opinion, this is not a fact as there should be regulations put in place to deal with these incidences as they are intentional. Rape is more often than not premeditated hence should not be considered an inevitable outcome. It is detrimental to a victim's health, socialization, mentality, and overall productivity in the force. Terming rape as an occupational hazard gives leeway to the offenders who will take advantage of the situation and cause a rapid increase in rape cases all around the country. Sexual assault is an individual's personal decision to stalk and harm their perpetrators (LeBeau, 2017). Research shows that over twenty percent of women in the military have been assaulted (Rhode, 2016). This makes about six thousand cases every year, with less than ten percent of the offenders being convicted. In most cases when these offenders are neither rehabilitated nor convicted, they are released into the society where they continue committing the crime (Andrews and Bonta, 2014).

Conclusion

Women who join the army do so because of diverse reasons but the two most common are: they have a military background, therefore, felt inclined to follow the family path or they felt that that was their calling. These women see this as a challenge to themselves and hence go at it will zeal, therefore keeping up with the men in the training. Rape cases mainly involve being drugged, threatened or physically attacked. Some women suffer from Sexually Transmitted Diseases and others unwanted pregnancies, yet Commanders and high ranking officials in the military take little to no action against these perpetrators. This issue should motivate the government and those in authority to put an end to this invisible war, as it is greatly affecting the women who voluntarily and willfully serve our country.

References

Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2014). The psychology of criminal conduct. Routledge.

Barron, R., Kapilevich, E., Duffy, S., McGregor, A. J., & Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Ethics Committee. (2016). Sexual assault: what every emergency provider needs to know. Academic emergency medicine, 23(10), 1182.

LeBeau, J. L. (2017). The journey to rape: Geographic distance and the rapist's method of approaching the victim. In Applications of Geographical Offender Profiling (pp. 157-166). Routledge.

Rhode, D. L. (2016). Rape on Campus and in the Military: An Agenda for Reform. UCLA Women's LJ, 23, 1.

Wilson, S. P., Miller, J., Mahan, M., & Krupp, S. (2015). The Urban Emergency Department: A Potential Increased Occupational Hazard for Sharpsrelated Injuries. Academic Emergency Medicine, 22(11), 1349-1349.