A recent Associated Press article, called “Sex Is Major Reason Military Commanders Are Fired,” which is being picked up all over, says almost a third of fired military commanders are losing their jobs over sex. Losing your job over sex sounds kind of fun. Sounds like members of the armed services are being all that they can be by engaging in some good, old fashioned-patriotic boning. The only problem is, the article kind of confuses sex with sexual assault, and, like, helps the military sanitize its entrenched rape culture.
Just to review, rape and sexual assault are pervasive in the military. Here are some useful statistics:
- A female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.
- In October The Huffington Post calculated that a servicewoman was nearly 180 times more likely to have become a victim of military sexual assault (MSA) in the past year than to have died while deployed during the last 11 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Over 20% of female veterans have been sexually assaulted while serving in the US army.
- The Pentagon estimates that only 14 percent of the assaults are reported.
- In Fiscal Year 2011, 3,192 sexual assaults were reported out of an estimated 19,000 — roughly 52 a day! (One of the reasons that rape is so underreported is because rape victims have to report their rape to their supervisor, who is often the rapist!)
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