Female Soldiers Experience - Assignment Example

Topic Female soldiers experience higher rates of Sexual Abuse and Posttraumatic Stress than male soldiers Name: Instructor’s name: Date: Running Head: Female soldiers experience higher rates of Sexual Abuse and Posttraumatic Stress than male soldiers Abstract The plight of women and inferior social existence compared to their male counterparts are not only reflected in the context of civilian existence, but one of the most brutal and naked forms of such discrimination, oppression and exploitation can be observed in the armed forces. Women soldiers are often become victims of sexual abuse or violence, either by their comrades or by other parties. Additionally, the horrific experience of war fused with such incidents of sexual harassment lead often lead them to the acute stage of posttraumatic stress. Men, also, on several occasions, become part of the same situations but condition of women remains worse due to socio-psychological factors. The paper aims at evaluating the situation of women soldiers and reasons of their comparatively worse plight. Attempts have also been made to come up with positive solutions to improve the condition for women both in armed forces and social context, by keeping a close proximity with issues like condition of women rights in the modern context, politics of gender discrimination and various traits of socio-psychical behaviorism towards status of women in the society. Chapter I: Introduction Human beings’ lust for power, will to dominate, desire to enhance respective territory and material prosperity and conflict of ideologies are some of the most important reasons for occurrence of warfare. An overview of the history of wars that the human civilization has witnessed will clearly give evidence in support of the observation that despite leading figures in an act of warfare have acted as voices of common people to take the decision of being engaged in such heinous act, however, civilians, belonging to general section of the society, have always remained the worst victims, as they are tortured, tormented, humiliated, deprived, abused and assassinated at a random (Cook, 2006). The horror of war, though, plagues all human beings, irrespective of their society, class, religious or ideological beliefs and gender differentiation to a massive extent, however, women, compared to their male counterparts, always have remained worse victims to an act of warfare (Cook, 2006). Whether women exist as ordinary civilians or participate actively in a war, their plight remains almost unchanged, however, the forms or manifestation of such tragic plight differs. Keeping in accordance to the topic of discussion an empathetic focus on the plight of women soldiers will reveal that, while they are forced to (Cook, 2006) or generously participate in war, in both cases they not only are discriminated by their male counterparts on the conventional idea that women are weaker than men, thus, unfit to participate in an act of immense masculinity such as war (Owen, Berg, and Stein, 2007), but also remain victims of sexual abuse both by their own fellow soldiers and personnel of other party (Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005; Browne, 2007)as well as suffer from tremendous posttraumatic experience (Britt, Adler, and Castro, 2006). It is not that incidents like sexual abuse or suffering from posttraumatic experience are only applicable for women soldiers. Males also suffer from each of these situations and like women their basic rights as human beings or as war criminals are also violated, but when it comes to women, intensity of such incidents are pretty much higher. Purpose of the Study Volumes of literature have already been produced regarding suffrage of humanity during times of war and how various forms of war crimes create impact on human psyche, on a broader horizon, result in gross violation of human rights. However, such literatures, most of the time, provide male biased reflection and due to sociological reasons as well as politics of gender discourse, impact on war mostly remain ignored in case of women civilians and soldiers. Since post-1970 onwards, evolution of feminist movement in Western social discourse has contributed to certain extent in bringing forth the real picture regarding sexual abuse caused to women and their experience of posttraumatic stress. This study, thus, aims at providing a realistic picture of sexual abuse over women soldiers and posttraumatic stress due to involvement in war. Consequently, the issues of essential ethical considerations are also aimed to be highlighted so that adequate initiatives can be taken to introduce immediate change in the existing scenario and by protecting rights of women, the path for celebrating human rights can also be guaranteed. Thesis Statement Gender politics and male patriarchal domination are two important aspects that restrain the real picture of women soldiers’ suffrage during and aftermath period of war. Whereas the plight of both male and female soldiers remains almost same, there is no denial of the fact women soldiers remain worse victims of such plight due to increased rate of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress during and aftermath a war. Chapter II: Literature Review An act of war, while casts various magnitude of impacts over citizens of both attacking and attacked parties, magnitude of the brutality has always been reflected to the greatest extent through oppression over women. Staring from Crusade in the Medieval Period to Modern Era, there are several such examples that on various occasions wars were led by women, either with their generous or compelled participation but every time brutal torture on them has taken a naked form. On one hand, being physically weaker part of the society, women were assassinated at a random, on the other, various forms of sexual abuse have shattered them morally (Cook, 2006). The incidents of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress of women soldiers became mostly conspicuous during and aftermath World War I and apart from rape as well as other forms of sexual oppression over women, other forms of sexual abuse amounted to “violence and mutilations of the genial organs” (Cook, 2006, p. xxxii): “Anthropologists of violence have long recorded that such attacks aim at people’s most human features, the face and reproductive organs. Women are victimized twice over, as human beings and as future child-bearers, and they are the first whom the invaders want to invade” (Cook, 2006, p. xxxii). However, oppression in terms of sexual abuse and thrusting traumatic experience during wartime over women soldiers by the invaders or triumphant party, is not the only reason resulting in their plight, but the traditional mentality that women are essentially subjects for sexual pleasure and commoditization of image of women in the modern world are also important factors that women soldiers often remain targets of sexual abuse by male soldiers of their side (Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005, p. 173). It is widely considered that if women soldiers are captured as war prisoners, they, at least a major part of them, would inevitably be victimized by sexual oppression (Browne, 2007, p. 235). However, it is definitely more unfortunate for women soldiers that, being regarded as objects of sexual utility by their own comrades, they also lose the only source of assistance to protect their dignity (Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005). Thus, captured as war prisoner or part of the triumphant side, women soldiers are only left with the only option to choose: that is to remain subjects of sexual harassment or abuse and finally lead the rest of their lives under the attack of posttraumatic stress. Several instances can be cited, in this context, from the internal affairs of American Military, where women soldiers have remained subjects of sexual assault by their male colleagues (Owen, Berg, and Stein, 2007). According to the information gathered by investigative journalists and American Congress, women in American Military force always remain at a high risk of sexual assault, and “institutional sexism and misogyny” within the force are mainly responsible for happening of such unfortunate incidents (Owen, Berg, and Stein, 2007, p. 204). The same tradition of sexual violence can also be observed within the Russian Military force (Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005, p. 173). Judging the issue of sexual abuse of women soldiers, it has also been found that women working in a subordinate position, are at a higher risk of being exploited by their superiors, when it comes to occurrence of such incidents within the same side; the military superiors, responsible for committing such offences actually target “women with low socio-cultural and organizational power” (Britt, Adler, and Castro, 2006, p. 107). Despite there has been attempts to prevent atrocious actions over women, both as soldiers and civilians in time of war, there has not really been any positive outcomes. The legal developments aftermath the World War II period, thus, become quite relevant in the context of discussion as those aimed at protecting women from being suffered as subjects of sexual violence or psychological trauma caused due to the war or from both (Gelb, and Palley, 2009, p, 101-102). While several International Human Rights tribunals and legal bodies, such as, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), The International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECPHRFF), the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (ADRDM) have clearly stated that inflicting torture over women in terms of physical or psychological harassment will strictly be prosecuted under legal purview (Smith, 2007), incidents of abundant violation of human rights, in case of women particularly, have occurred all over the world. During the mid-1980s, it was strongly argued that though the International Human Rights statutes have attempted to bar attempts of torture over civilians, but as there is no universally acknowledged definition of torture, the International tribunals are encountering difficulty to judge which acts can be regarded as Torture. Thus, the United Nations Convention against Torture 1984 (UNCAT), in the Article 1 clearly specified “Torture” as: “…an act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” (“CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”, 1984). Several historians have found that there is a deep connection between history of war and sexual abuse. One of the earliest of religious documents, Old Testament bears such examples that reflect sexual violence against women in times of war and in the Second World War, rape was idealized the by Russian Soldiers to the German Women that it would help the race to redeem from the Sin that they have committed (Browne, 2007, p. 235). There several such opinions that have regarded rape as an effective weapon of war and it is properly used, can contribute to a great extent in demoralizing the opponent party (Gelb, and Palley, 2009, p. 101). Thus, not only the civilian women remain as targets of reflecting such heinous approaches, but captured women soldiers in forms of war prisoners also remain as subjects of experimenting newer methods of sexual abuses (Gelb, and Palley, 2009); at the same time, mediums of mass communication also adopt quite a reluctant approach to bring forth brutality and inhumanity of the entire situation (Owen, Berg, and Stein, 2007). Passivity of the American Press, is a dazzling example that can be cited when it comes to avoiding adequate initiative to cover the issue of capture and repeated infliction of sexual abuse over flight surgeon Rhonda Cornum during Gulf War (Owen, Berg, and Stein, 2007, p. 204). The system of military jurisprudence, at the same time, is observed to adopt quite a reluctant approach in this context, and such procedures either attempt to hide these occurrences of such aspects from common people or those decline to provide adequate importance to such atrocities with the typical argument that in a wartime situation happening of such incidents are quite normal and nothing really can be done to solve the situation: “Military justice often lacks the basic structures and safeguards to ensure independence and fairness. For example, military courts are often less transparent than civil courts. As a male-dominated institution, the military is particularly unsuitable for prosecuting individuals in case of violence against women” (Mazurana, Raven-Roberts, and Parpart, 2005, p. 90). Finally, thus, in acts of war, women remain as the worst suffering individuals in terms of sexual abuse and trauma resulted out of the horror of war. While a great number of female soldiers remain victims of sexual abuses both within and outside their army, the horror of war and the kind of performances that they are compelled to execute, often cast tremendous traumatic impact over their psyche. The findings of Dalene Fuller Rogers, and Harold G Koenig, mentions that during times of war, witnessing horrible suffering of their fellow mates and nature of their wounds for long time often casts a deep nervous impact over women and they, consequently, find it hard to overcome such traumatic experiences (2002). Several researches have also been conducted to witness the effect of wartime stress both over male and female soldiers and how the respective parties handle the situation. It has been observed consequently that the issue of gender difference plays a crucial part in determining the nature of posttraumatic stress disorder and the nature of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) is highly distinctive among women, compared to their male counterparts- women show a tendency to suffer deeper compared to the male soldiers(Britt, Adler, and Castro, 2006, p. 108-109). Chapter III: Methodology The methodology part aims at collection of data and analysis of the same and then along with the support of the Literature review section, it aims at establishing the argument those women soldiers, compared to their male counterparts, remain subjects of more sexual harassment and suffer from a greater rate of posttraumatic stress. The mode of data collection and analysis of the same for the section has been chosen as qualitative mode of analysis of the secondary data. The target population, which has been chosen to prove the argument, is American soldiers. A deep reflection over analysis of the data regarding sexual harassment of the American female soldiers and their experience of posttraumatic stress would reveal that American women soldiers, engaged at different parts of the globe with the assignment of peacekeeping or war against terrorism, often undergo such experiences and compared to the population of male soldiers assigned in the same job, women experience a greater rate of sexual harassment as well as posttraumatic stress. While, according to the thesis statement, the picture of women plight during time of war remains almost the same but it receives perhaps the one of the most horrible forms of manifestation in case of women soldiers, will be attempted to prove, simultaneously certain aspects also emerge in form of research hypothesis, namely: a) Women soldiers remain subjects of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress at a higher rate than their male counterparts but males are also subjects of such treatment quite frequently if they are captured as war or political prisoners. b) The issue of Gender Discrimination is prevalent among armed forces and women soldiers are widely considered as objects of sexual pleasure by their male comrades. c) The politics of Gender Discrimination continues to dominate the social situation, consequently leading to ill and discriminative treatment of women soldiers, leading to their posttraumatic stress. In order to support the thesis and the proposed research hypothesis, along with analysis of data, management of the same also is also equally important. Keeping in mind the nature of data and the population in focus for analysis, it becomes quite evident that enormous amount of data is required to be gathered from various secondary resources that have dealt with demographical, socio-political, gender discourse, sexual abuse and incidents of posttraumatic stress among women. At the same time, in each of these domains, picture of male suffrage on the same issues also needs to be considered quite carefully and analytically. In the context of collection and management of such data, various surveying sites that are working seriously on these issues, NGOs, and surveys conducted by International Human Rights tribunals can be used in a quite productive manner. Additionally, anthologies over sexual violence and incidents of women suffering in terms of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress due to involvement of American involvement in various acts of warfare can also be cited. In case of women in particular, incidents related to sexual violence and posttraumatic stress find close relation with each other, as the latter often emerges as results of the prior. Pondering over requirement of the paper, special attention needs to be provided on collection of data that indicates increasing incidents of posttraumatic stress among women due to victimization of sexual offences than their sole involvement in acts of war, experience generated from witnessing horror of war. Finally, management of gathered data from diverse resources can be used effectively in the context of serving the purpose of the research only when accurate ration will be created, indicating a comparative study of increased women plight compared to men in cases of sexual offenses leading to posttraumatic stress as well as comparison with female counterparts, who suffer from posttraumatic stress, resulted only solely due to involvement in a situation of war. In order to understand the rate of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress is higher among women soldiers, compared to men, it is important to analyze certain statistical data deeply so that a comparison can be done. While it is widely acknowledged that women soldiers remain worst victims during time of war both within and outside their troops, it has also been proved that males encounter the problems of sexual harassment or assault on frequent occasions. The 1988 survey by the American Defense Department done over 20000 male and female soldiers showed that 40% of the total number has accepted the fact of being sexually molested and rate of women is considerably higher than male. While among the victimized 40%, 36.9% of the males have acknowledged the fact of being sexually harassed, 70.1% of women have gone through the same experience. More interesting information can be highlighted in the context that while 47.7% of male soldiers were responsible for causing sexual abuse over their fellow people, rate of women, guilty of the same task is lesser, around 43.2%. However, in this context, it can be observed that despite lesser rate of female involvement in such acts, a huge gap does not exist between males and females in the context of inflicting sexual violence (Cited in Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005, p. 174). The rate of sexual harassment inflicted on women subordinates is also higher than males, 21.9% compared to 11.8%. Interestingly, at the higher level of military authority, according to available statistics, women are more responsible for causing sexual harassment over their female subordinates. Compared to ration of men officials involved in such deed (8.6%), women involvement in this context witnesses a hike of almost 10% (18.7%) (Cited in Heitmeyer, and Hagan, p. 174). The traditional convention that women have been a product of male patriarchy and often act as an instrument of male patriarchal domination, can be accepted in this context and rate of oppression over women by their female counterparts, increases when it comes to holding up the position of hierarchy (Abramovitz, 1996). However, the situation has changed with the progressive course of time and male soldiers have taken the predating position in the context of resulting in women suffrage. During the Gulf War, another survey done over 160 female American soldiers exhibits the shocking statics that 13 of them were victims of sexual violence, 52 of physical and 105 were verbally harassed with sexist comments (Cited in Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005, p. 174). In the later case, males predominated in the role of sexual abusers and it has also been asserted on part of the researchers that an impression of worse situation can be realized once such surveys are conducted over larger population (Cited in Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005, p. 174). There is no such reason to believe that plight of women soldiers have actually worsened with the progressive course of time and in support of this observation, sexual abuse inflicted over women veterans during the Vietnam War by US male soldiers can be cited as strong proof. During the wars in Vietnam and Iraq the situation has remained almost unchanged: it becomes clear with the observation that one-third of the total female veterans who have asked for V.A. healthcare support, according to the 2003 statistics, have experienced incidents of sexual assault within the armed force. Among the large number of participants in the study, 37% of women soldiers were raped by males several times and 14% of them have encountered the horrific experience such as gang rape (Weaver, 2010, p. xv). Another 2004 survey has revealed the shocking data that among all women veterans, who have asked for therapeutic treatment to combat their PTSD experience, 71% of them remained victims of sexual abuse, while working in the military and 90% of the women asking for same help, have encountered incidents related to sexual molestation or violence during the Gulf War (1992-93) (Weaver, 2010, p. xvi). However, shifting the focus to the ongoing trend of warfare and impact of the same over women soldiers, it can be reasserted that the gap between theory and practice is far from being bridged. Some of the surveys done to receive a real picture in this context during 1995 to 2000 have shown quite a fearsome picture. The survey completed by Skinner et al. suggests that among 3600 female US veterans, 55% have experienced sexual violence and 23% have remained victims of gross sexual violence (Cited in Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005, p. 174). The 1995 survey by the American Department of Defense gives quite a gloomy picture at the same time, suggesting that 61% of women in US army have experienced various forms of sexual abuse during their tenure of service (Cited in Heitmeyer, and Hagan, 2005, p. 174). A 2005 survey conducted by the Miles Foundation has revealed that a total number of 384 women were victims to sexual abuse in various areas of Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Afghanistan and each cases of such abuse were caused by male soldiers within the army (Gelb, and Palley, 2009, p. 105). Despite the legal measures, prescribed by International Human Rights tribunals have clearly prescribed the kind of measures can be taken against people engaged in the process of torturing women, however, it is almost universally accepted that if women are captured as war prisoners, they will surely become victims of sexual violence and abuse. It would be wrong to receive an impression that sexual torture and attempts to inflict posttraumatic stress over women have reduced considerably from the fact that very less cases like Rhonda Cornum and Jessica Lynch are coming up. They were received attention of media because they were intentionally chosen for sensationalizing the news and draw empathy toward the fact that media has shade off the cloak of male patriarchal gender politics (Browne, 2007, p. 236-237). Proper empathetic observation to the real situation would help in yielding of several Rhonda or Jessica and consequently will also unmask the ongoing hypocritical activism regarding protection of women from being victims of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress. Compared to such findings, the scenario of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress over men is not a quite optimistic one. A 2004 survey on political prisoners in El Salvador has shown that 76% of the total number is victims of sexual assault (Gelb, and Palley, 2009, p. 107). While the United States of American has remained home for more than 500,000 males across the globe, especially from the developing nations, with the experience of sexual assault, the male American soldiers also remain victims to sexual abuse to a great number (almost 12,500 per year) (Gelb, and Palley, 2009, p. 107). Chapter IV: Ethical Considerations The issue of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress in case of both women and men soldiers clearly provide an impression that both the genders have remained subjects of sexual violence and following consequences of such actions to a great extent. However, keeping in mind the proportion of male and female soldiers in army and the politics of male patriarchal system, it can be said that for women soldiers the situation is far worse and related issue of concern should be deeper in order to solve this issue. Sexual abuse caused over women, has an integral connection with posttraumatic stress because an attempt of sexual harassment on a woman is not only violation of her body but at the same time such attempt has deeper implication in the context of devastating moral dignity and self-respect. Moreover, petty quest of media to focus over such news to sensationalize the issue, even at the cost of causing further humiliation to the victim and making all sorts of attempt to expose the issue, which women generally consider as a matter of great humiliation, in front of public brings further trouble for the victim. It cannot and should not be expected that all women soldiers will be brave and confessional enough like that of Sergeant Cornum that despite being victim to such humiliation they would openly regard it “just another bad thing that can happen” (Owen, Berg, and Stein, 2007, p. 205) and consequently, it is important to respect their respective wish to protect anonymity or the issue of obtaining benevolent consent when it comes to disclosure of such information in public. It should be remembered that “War is one of the greatest stressors known to humankind” (Britt, Adler, and Castro, 2006, p. 110) and soldiers, who actually have participated in such events, actually deal with the aspect of undertaking the stress to the maximum extent possible. Thus, common people as well as media should refrain themselves from being part of any such activism, especially from the self-centric purpose, so that the issue of posttraumatic stress can create more havoc for the victims. In this context, experience of women veterans, who returned from the Vietnam War, can be cited. During the course of war they not only had to witness tremendous plight of their fellow soldiers in the battlefield along with sexist approaches from their comrades within their own troop, but after returning from War they also were addressed by their fellow countrymen as degrading remarks such as, “whores” or “baby killers” (Rogers, and Koenig, 2002, p. 50). Quite naturally, along with the process of handling the trauma of experiencing the horror of War, such remarks would give them an impression that they actually are responsible for waging such a bloody affair. Moreover, the traditional issue of gender discrimination with the social politics would encourage the society to label them as violators of humanity, leading them to social isolation (Rogers, and Koenig, 2002, p. 50-52). The experience of sexual abuse and violence, most of the occasions, create an impression in common women psyche that they have become “dirty” or unworthy for social acceptance (Rogers, and Koenig, 2002, p. 52). In addition to such situation, purposeful or unintentional social discrimination naturally lead them to encounter such a situation of posttraumatic experience that they find it almost impossible to overcome and finally, dragging themselves to the extent of putting an end to their lives. Keeping in mind realism behind such observation, it is important to evaluate whether people, who have not actually participated in the process of war, are also responsible for violation of human rights or not and to which extent they are responsible to bear the onus in the context of heightening the magnitude of posttraumatic stress for women. Thomas W. Britt, Amy B. Adler, and Carl Andrew Castro have quite rightly observed that: “There are a number of important women’s health issues requiring further long-term surveillance and attention among women who deploy to high-threat conditions whether on combat, peacekeeping, or domestic terrorism missions. Specifically, attention needs to be directed toward studying the occupational, environmental, and psychological hazards that may affect women in unique ways using statistical modeling that incorporates all these factors. Only when multiple health, work, family, and deployment factors unique to women are considered together can we begin to understand the complexity of the response to deployment and wartime stressors” (Britt, Adler, and Castro, 2006, p, 110). The principles of human ethics and morality are complementary and supplementary to each other, and conjointly these two virtues strengthen the foundation for the better future of human existence. However, the modern vices of sexism, gender politics and social discrimination, to which women remain as victims, lead to the development of social disintegration, consequently, widening the ways of a disturbed existence. It is the society that is responsible for strengthening the approach that women are subjects of sexual pleasure and the primary purpose of their social existence is to please their male counterparts. It is the society that has encouraged various ways to inflict oppression over women and regard them as avenues for inflicting patriarchal supremacy as well as sadism that is inherent among the general modern psyche. Little bit of empathy and conscious effort can alter the situation, put an end to gender discrimination and on a specific note, can also help women soldiers to obtain defense against prevailing evils of sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress. Chapter V: Conclusion The scope of the study has attempted to ponder deeply within the issues of gender politics, human affairs, and flaws within the entire social system that have made discrimination against women a random affair, one of the worst deception of which can be found in case of female soldiers, engaged in the process of peacekeeping and warfare across the globe. Attempts have also been made by the process of gathering secondary data that to which extent brutality of the situation has extended. Sufficient attempts have been made by the International Legal Tribunals to resist the incidents leading to sexual abuse of women soldiers and their posttraumatic stress. It is now required that sincere application of such attempts is fulfilled. However, such process of such execution will never be possible unless there is active support and participation of common people. Thus, success, rather objectives of the study can only be attained only when plight of the entire situation can be perceived empathetically and women will be stopped from being discriminated as inferior subjects in the context of social existence. References Abramovitz, M. (1996). Regulating the lives of women: social welfare policy from colonial times to the present. (2nd Ed). Massachusets: South End Press. Browne, K. (2007). Co-ed combat: the new evidence that women shouldnt fight the nations wars. New York: Sentinel. Castro, C.A. Adler, A.B. and Britt, T.W. (2006). Military life: the psychology of serving in peace and combat, Volume 4. California: Greenwood Publishing Group. Cook, B.A. (2006). Women and war: a historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present, Volume 1. Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Hagan, J. and Heitmeyer, W. (2005). International handbook of violence research. Munich: Springer. Koenig, H.G. and Rogers, D.F. (2002). 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