I Want You To Read This
You may not agree with Mr. Trudeau's stance on the current Gulf war, or with mine. You may consider Trudeau a leftie, looney, or some other unpleasant thing beginning with "l".
But read these strips--from Sunday the 24th to Saturday the first (which is not yet up as I write this).
Then surf over to the "Blowback"--Trudeau's personal comment section for the strip.
Start down at the post by David Ferrier, subject "MST". And read up. If you can read those comments all the way through and not feel something clench in your gut, you're probably Dick Cheney.
Do it now. The strips will archive soon, and then you won't be able to read the whole series.
posted by Metro @ 7:00 am
3 Comments:
Yeah, disturbing stuff. But I'm not surprised (unfortunately). I cannot imagine the US military culture being female-friendly in the least. I loved that guy who said he never saw any woman harassed and that he was sick of 20 year old women complaining that they'd been picked on or made to do tasks that any other NCO wouldn't mind doing. He must have blinders on.
Um, well ...
I've seen that, and other instances very like it, on the ground during my own military service.
On the other hand, I saw a boatload of behaviour that was harrassment in any other environment.
That one statement is true doesn't make the other invalid. I tend to feel the preponderance of evidence indicates that sexual assault, and certainly harrassment, is vastly more prevalent in the military than women seeking to get out of work.
Of course it would be interesting to correlate some items:
1) Is MST more common in wartime?
2) Is it specifically more common in the United States military.
If so, then:
3) Is it related to the moralizing that goes on in US leadership: Petraeus' remarks about gays ... the "Don't-ask-just-stay-in-the-closet-like-a-good-little-fag-soldier" policy ... the overwhelming Christianist undertone?
4) Is there some "macho" element in US military culture not present--or differently present--in others?
And of course, that's without first examining the context--are false--or "false"--rape charges more common too? What is the experience of civillians who have sexual encounters with military members?
I'm glad Trudeau's calling attention to the issue.
Incredible. Great to see it, because until very recently, male soldiers raping their female fellow soldiers was the military's dirty little, worst-kept secret -- one that, if reported, got women dishonourably discharged, harrassed, denied benefits and further traumatized. God forbid anyone should point out that many male soldiers are not only capable of this violence, but commit it frequently. And rape is never about sex; it's always about power.
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