By Sarah Tedesco, Staff Writer, Emerson College
1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. This number almost doubles when a woman enlists in the United States Military. Every day, while training to fight for their country, women and men of our military are brutally raped, beat, and forced to participate in sexual acts with their commanders, lieutenants, or fellow to servicemen. Women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to be raped than they are to be killed by open fire. This statistic is not only scary but extremely eye opening to the amount of women who not only put their lives on duty, but put the safety and freedom of their own body on the line.
In October, I was sexually assaulted by an Emerson student and a “brother” of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This experience has forced me to come to terms with having my virginity forcibly taken away from me.
On April 2nd, I attended an Invisible War Screening sponsored by Kappa Gamma Chi and Emerson Peace and Social Justice. The documentary opened my eyes to the sick reality that sexual assault is a serious problem that goes beyond childhood molestation, college acquaintance and date rape, and random acts of sexual violence. Sexual Assault happens in one of our countries most respected institutions. Brothers and sisters in the military take advantage of one another and destroy what is arguably one of the most precious human experiences, sex.
At first, I was surprised to hear that sexual assault happens so often in the military but then I realized it makes sense. Forcing someone to have sex can never “make sense,” but the idea of strong men who are members of the most hierarchal institution in our country taking advantage of lower ranked women makes sense.
College rape and sexual assault scandals are often largely publicized and schools are obliged to fix sexual assault policies and implement prevention campaigns that are effective. However, there have been countless previous sexual assault scandals that the military has silently covered up in order to preserve its esteemed reputation. The Invisible War tells the story of four sexually assaulted veterans filing a complaint against our country's armed forces for not acting on their cases of rape and sexual harassment. The case was dismissed on the means that sexual assault is considered an “occupational hazard” in the military.
In addition to the lawsuit filed by the four survivors, the documentary follows the lives of other survivors. One of these survivors’ stories particularly resonated with me and allowed me to see the similarities between the flaws in both the military’s sexual assault policies and the United States College system’s sexual assault investigation procedures.
Both systems have issues, but it is safe to say to the military’s way about investigating claims of sexual misconduct is far more problematic. The Generals who take care of such cases are untrained and often side with the higher ranked male perpetrator. Generals use the culture of victim blaming to force the victim into silence. Cases of rape investigated by the military are often never “proven,” and the victim is required to live with the fact that their attacker is still assaulting other women. In almost every case brought to the viewers’ attention in the Invisible War, the perpetrator was still serving the country and was perceived to be an honorable soldier to their peers.
As a survivor of rape I found it hard to concentrate on each woman’s story in the documentary. I have never been a supporter of the military or war and am against violence as a way to resolve international issues. However, I respect the brave people who risk their lives each day for my protection. I would never imagine such revolting incidents to occur while our service men and women are on duty, but they do. One soldier’s story in particular that was included in the documentary spoke volumes to me. The women’s name is Hannah Sewall and she was raped while at a military academy completing her basic training. The majority of Hannah’s story was told through her father in the documentary. He spoke of how he believed his daughter would be taken care of and that she did not need to worry about being unsafe.
As a fellow army soldier, Hannah’s father was crushed when he heard the news that his daughter was raped. Hannah, similarly to me, felt that she was no longer a virgin after being raped and that idea was one of the hardest parts to get over during recovery. One line in the documentary that finally allowed me to understand that I am still a “virgin” is when Hannah’s father said, “Don’t ever think you are not a virgin,” while sobbing on camera.
After hearing another survivor battle with the idea of “virginity,” I found myself realizing that you lose your virginity when you choose to lose it not when another person forces you to give it up. Sexual assault continues to be an extremely hard problem our country needs to fight both on and off the battle field. Every soldier has “battle scars,” but female veterans discharged on accounts of rape share a deeper scar that will follow them through life.
1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. This number almost doubles when a woman enlists in the United States Military. Every day, while training to fight for their country, women and men of our military are brutally raped, beat, and forced to participate in sexual acts with their commanders, lieutenants, or fellow to servicemen. Women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to be raped than they are to be killed by open fire. This statistic is not only scary but extremely eye opening to the amount of women who not only put their lives on duty, but put the safety and freedom of their own body on the line.
In October, I was sexually assaulted by an Emerson student and a “brother” of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This experience has forced me to come to terms with having my virginity forcibly taken away from me.
On April 2nd, I attended an Invisible War Screening sponsored by Kappa Gamma Chi and Emerson Peace and Social Justice. The documentary opened my eyes to the sick reality that sexual assault is a serious problem that goes beyond childhood molestation, college acquaintance and date rape, and random acts of sexual violence. Sexual Assault happens in one of our countries most respected institutions. Brothers and sisters in the military take advantage of one another and destroy what is arguably one of the most precious human experiences, sex.
At first, I was surprised to hear that sexual assault happens so often in the military but then I realized it makes sense. Forcing someone to have sex can never “make sense,” but the idea of strong men who are members of the most hierarchal institution in our country taking advantage of lower ranked women makes sense.
College rape and sexual assault scandals are often largely publicized and schools are obliged to fix sexual assault policies and implement prevention campaigns that are effective. However, there have been countless previous sexual assault scandals that the military has silently covered up in order to preserve its esteemed reputation. The Invisible War tells the story of four sexually assaulted veterans filing a complaint against our country's armed forces for not acting on their cases of rape and sexual harassment. The case was dismissed on the means that sexual assault is considered an “occupational hazard” in the military.
In addition to the lawsuit filed by the four survivors, the documentary follows the lives of other survivors. One of these survivors’ stories particularly resonated with me and allowed me to see the similarities between the flaws in both the military’s sexual assault policies and the United States College system’s sexual assault investigation procedures.
Both systems have issues, but it is safe to say to the military’s way about investigating claims of sexual misconduct is far more problematic. The Generals who take care of such cases are untrained and often side with the higher ranked male perpetrator. Generals use the culture of victim blaming to force the victim into silence. Cases of rape investigated by the military are often never “proven,” and the victim is required to live with the fact that their attacker is still assaulting other women. In almost every case brought to the viewers’ attention in the Invisible War, the perpetrator was still serving the country and was perceived to be an honorable soldier to their peers.
As a survivor of rape I found it hard to concentrate on each woman’s story in the documentary. I have never been a supporter of the military or war and am against violence as a way to resolve international issues. However, I respect the brave people who risk their lives each day for my protection. I would never imagine such revolting incidents to occur while our service men and women are on duty, but they do. One soldier’s story in particular that was included in the documentary spoke volumes to me. The women’s name is Hannah Sewall and she was raped while at a military academy completing her basic training. The majority of Hannah’s story was told through her father in the documentary. He spoke of how he believed his daughter would be taken care of and that she did not need to worry about being unsafe.
As a fellow army soldier, Hannah’s father was crushed when he heard the news that his daughter was raped. Hannah, similarly to me, felt that she was no longer a virgin after being raped and that idea was one of the hardest parts to get over during recovery. One line in the documentary that finally allowed me to understand that I am still a “virgin” is when Hannah’s father said, “Don’t ever think you are not a virgin,” while sobbing on camera.
After hearing another survivor battle with the idea of “virginity,” I found myself realizing that you lose your virginity when you choose to lose it not when another person forces you to give it up. Sexual assault continues to be an extremely hard problem our country needs to fight both on and off the battle field. Every soldier has “battle scars,” but female veterans discharged on accounts of rape share a deeper scar that will follow them through life.