Military rape Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Military rape - Essay Example However, today female soldiers working in the US military are also extremely vulnerable to sexual molestations mostly by their male counterparts (Whitten, 1999). As a result of the increasing rate of the military rape, today young people, particularly female candidates are reluctant to join the army (Nantais & Lee, 1999). This paper will specifically discuss the intensity of military rape in the US with particular reference given to various elements of sexual behavior. This will also discuss four different theories like the feminist theory, the cultural pathology theory, the strategic rape theory, and the biosocial theory in order to identify the root causes of military rape. Background Rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment that occur during military service are generally termed as Military Sexual Trauma (MST) by the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). The term ‘wartime rape’ indicates mass wartime rape rather than isolated examples of rape by individual soldiers . Admittedly, there are no reliable statistical data on wartime rape due to pressures from superior officers and the reluctance of victims to come forward. Reports indicates that increases in the frequency of wartime rape might range from an estimated 300% to 400% by the end of the World War II (Gottschall, 2004). While analyzing the available statistics relating to the number of cases reported, it seems that military rape has been becoming a mounting challenge to the US army. According to some estimates, more than half a million people have been raped while serving the US army; and nearly 100,000 cases of military rape have been occurred within the past seven years (Koss, 2004). Although both men and women in the military are exposed to sexual harassments, women are the major victims of unwanted sexual behaviors. To illustrate, a 1996 Department of Defense survey conducted on 90,000 active duty members (including men and women) revealed that 55 percent women reported unwanted uninv ited sexual attention or behaviors whereas the same was reported by only 14 percent men; and the survey also indicated that 78 percent women and 38 percent men experienced one or another form of sexual harassment or sexual assault (Koss, 2004). Unfortunately, many of these cases go unreported due to various reasons, and a significant percent of the reported cases fail to go to full trial or investigations. A recently published report indicates that â€Å"only 3 to 4 percent of cases reported to the Army Criminal Investigation Division proceed all the way through the system to court martial† (Koss, 2004). Evidently, this situation points to the sexual behaviors of military personnel which can increase the rate of military rape. A Detailed Study As discussed already, the incidence of military rape has been significantly increasing over the last decade. Many of the female soldiers who took part in the Iraq war reported that they were raped by their male counterparts. Some studie s point out the possibility that one out of every four women that serve the military will have to face some form of sexual assault within the time span of their careers (Kitfield, 2012). (Details of this citation not found in the proposal you sent. So not included in the reference list). According to Pentagon reports, over 19,000 sexual assaults occur in the US military annually and this data include the cases of both the genders.