ipl-logo

Military Sexual Trauma Essay

1995 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on rape in the military

Abstract
Despite the United States military’s world-renowned prestige, military sexual trauma
(MST) is a harrowing issue that stains its reputation. This grossly underreported crime has especially impacted the mental health of active duty and veteran women. The nature and shame attached to sexual trauma make it a pressing and easily concealed issue in the United States, especially in the military’s unique justice system. The military environment and its legal framework contribute to a number of factors that allow MST rates to increase over time. Military sexual trauma is associated with a variety of negative consequences including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicidal ideation. Active-duty military and veteran
women …show more content…

Although the legal atmosphere in the military regarding sexual assault is a complex challenge, intervention efforts and new policies provide the military a unique opportunity to set the standard for sexual assault victims’ protectionism and sexual trauma prevention.
3
Significance
Sexual violence and harassment in the United States are major ongoing issues disproportionately affecting the lives of women. The trauma that follows such ordeals can profoundly impact lifelong health, opportunity, and well-being (CDC, 2022). Victims of sexual violence, and especially victims of completed rape, are at very high risk for suicidal ideation, developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), drug abuse, and experiencing negative impacts on the victim’s relationships with family, friends, and coworkers (RAINN, 2023).
Because of the sheer prevalence of sexual assault, it can be gauged that about every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted (Department of Justice, 2020). Annually, this averages to
463,634 victims of sexual assault and rape each year in the United States (RAINN, 2023).
Consequently, sexual trauma is a looming predicament in the U.S. that often goes …show more content…

Military sexual trauma is a massive setback in all branches of the U.S. military and leaves many victims, especially women, with mental health complications and intransigent plans for leaving the military for good.
Reporting sexual crimes in the military also has its risks. Workplace retaliation and perceived retaliation are major factors in why reporting such crimes is especially challenging.
Almost half of all active duty women who reported a sexual crime also described a deep concern of perceived retaliation including threats to their military service record and their future careers
(Dardis et al., 2018). Victims fear that they would be subject to Article 15s, a form of administrative discipline, for participating in concurrent activities such as illegal alcohol use or fraternization (Dardis et al., 2018). Furthermore, between the fiscal years of 2012 and 2014, over
63% of women military personnel who formally reported a sexual harassment or assault file, experienced some form of workplace retaliation (White, 2021). Workplace retaliation can take many forms including being ignored by coworkers, being transferred to a different unit, being denied promotion or training, and/or being disciplined for infractions associated with the

Show More
Related
423 Words | 2 Pages

SFC Vanessa Barquero is a Senior Human Resource Instructor with 6th Battalion, 104th Regiment, 4th Brigade, 94th Division, located at Camp Parks, California with an additional duty of Sexual Harassment/ Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Victim Advocate. Prior to her current assignment, she served as a Line of Duty Human Resources Sergeant for the Health Services Branch at 63D Regional Support Command, located at Mountain View, California. Born in El Salvador but raised in California, she graduated from Menlo Atherton High School in June of 1999 and enlisted in the United States Army Reserve. SFC Barquero has served in a variety of positions in the Army reserve program. Her previous assignments include: 801st Engineer Company; 301st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade as a Carpentry and Masonry Specialist; 91st Training Division (Operations) as Human Resources NCO in the G-1 section; US Army

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

Over 20% of women within the military have been sexually assaulted, as well as 1% of men. Yes, men as well. The terrible thing regarding this statistic, is that it leads to another one. Of all the rapes that occur, usually only 175 perpetrators get jail time for their crime and wrongdoing. Not surprisingly, this loops around to the commanders not reporting the rape and the military covering it up.

Read More
147 Words | 1 Pages

In this scholarly article researcher Tai Hawk evaluates PTSD as a whole analyzing the causes, effects, and possible outcomes of the self-described “epidemic”. Hawk analysis over 40 different forms of literature to bring forth his own conclusions and feasible theories. Hawk begins by giving a brief overview of why the cases of PTSD are increasing now then in earlier more violent wars, the answer is with advancing technology, and better healthcare soldiers outlive the trauma that they would have killed them 20 years earlier. Hawk later does an in depth review of the three forms of PTSD and their distinguishing features. The final criteria Hawk addressed was rehabilitation of veterans with PTSD and the difficulties that they must overcome, including

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

Until one young man assaulted me in a cruise and insulting way, and I ran” (Prout 1). Had Prout mentioned more stories of survivors, they would have provided a more comprehensive view of sexual assault and offered a platform for a more diverse array of stories to be heard. Furthermore, the narrative occasionally lacks depth, leaving readers yearning for a more comprehensive exploration of the emotional, psychological, and social repercussions of sexual assault. A more nuanced examination could have offered greater insight and a deeper understanding of the survivor's

Read More
1191 Words | 5 Pages

Angela Davis demonstrates the ongoing violent abuse as she quotes a report on sexual maltreatment in women’s prisons, “We found that male correctional employees have vaginally, anally, and orally raped female prisoners and sexually assaulted and abused them” (Davis 78). However disturbing this blunt sexual contact that male officers take with the vulnerable prisoners may be, the officers adopt even more severe tactics to harass and abuse the women as they often utilize “mandatory pat-frisks or room searches to grope women 's breasts, buttocks, and vaginal areas...” (Davis 79). To add insult to injury, women are virtually incapable of escaping from their abuser(s). Prison employees upkeep their inappropriate behavior as it is believed they will “rarely be held accountable, administratively or criminally” (Davis 78).

Read More
469 Words | 2 Pages

1. This paper will discuss the rapes that occur while in the military, and a way to spread awareness. 2. I interested in spearing awareness about this topic because the people put their life on the line every day to save us and we should be doing the same. Many of those men and women that get rape in the military are ashamed of admitting it, but I want to help them by inspiring them to speak up about it so the others can follow.

Read More
294 Words | 2 Pages

Sexual harassment of women in the military has increasingly become an issue acknowledged by officers and civilians. Sexual harassment of women in the military can have profound effects on a woman 's psychological and physical well being. Sex harassment also may impact women 's ability to succeed among the ranks of the military. Recent headlines in the news suggest that sexual harassment is still a prevalent problem in the military. A survey conducted by the US Department of Defense between 1988 and 1995 revealed that sexual harassment is in fact however, declining.

Read More
809 Words | 4 Pages

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried During the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men entered the warzone and came face-to-face with unimaginable scenes of death, destruction, and turmoil. While some perished in the dense Asian jungles, others returned to American soil and were forced to confront their lingering combat trauma. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides distinct instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and reveals the psychological trauma felt by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for short, is the most common mental illness affecting soldiers both on and off the battlefield.

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

The purpose of this study is to determine if trauma that occurred before, after, or while serving in the military is related to the high percentages of homelessness in veterans. Hypothesis If veterans experienced trauma while serving, before serving, or after serving in armed forces the odds of them being homeless are increased. Trauma has a strong correlation to mental health issues which can affect one’s stability in life. Research Methodology Participants were contacted through a Veterans Affairs residential rehabilitation program and the study was completed through

Read More
1290 Words | 6 Pages

In the recent years, the number of mental health professionals providing for the military has dwindled, there is almost no combat-specific psychologists left, and the wait time to be treated for a mental health issue by the Department of Veterans Affairs has drastically increased. Examining MilitaryOneSource and the Department of Veterans Affairs, two of the most highly regarded military health providers, the lack of mental health services for veterans and active duty members has diminished and has resulted in a multitude of veterans going untreated or even ending their own life instead of receiving the help they

Read More
1036 Words | 5 Pages

Many soldiers experienced gruesome, traumatizing events during World War II, but many men were judged if they appeared to show signs of what people now call PTSD. Many men were greatly affected than what met the eye, “Sympathy was only rarely forthcoming. Sufferers had no choice but to acknowledge that their reputations as soldiers and men had been dealt a severe blow. After a major bombardment or particularly bloody attack, if the combatant had acquitted himself adequately, signs of emotional 'weakness' could be overlooked, but in the midst of the fray, the attitude was much less sympathetic.” (Bourke P. 4)

Read More
894 Words | 4 Pages

The men and women who put their lives at stake for our country, so that citizens may feel safe and secure in the United States, struggle with their own personal battles that impact their lives significantly. According to a recent 2015 poll, nearly 52,336 soldiers were physically wounded, about 320,000 soldiers were suffering from traumatic brain injury, and almost 400,000 soldiers were troubled with post traumatic stress disorder. Physical wounds are a reality of war, and they come in many forms, but these statistics show that brain and emotional injuries are ultimately affecting more war veterans. Given the highly stressful context in which war injuries occur, traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder are commonly diagnosed

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

In society and college campuses, sexual assault occurs quite frequently. According to an estimation one third of women experience a forced sexual experience at least once in their life and most of the time it occurs in colleges. Men have also been reported to be victim of sexual assaults mostly by other men. Most of the time the sexual assault is planned and perpetrated by a third person, who is known to the victim of incident. Drug and alcohol use play role in this issue and contribute to the problem as most of the time the victim and perpetrators are under the effect of alcohol or any other drug during the incident.

Read More
539 Words | 3 Pages

Nearly 20 percent of 30,000 suicides are attributed to veterans each year (Cesar, Sabia & Tekin, 2012). This number represents a substantial number of military personnel suffering with mental health problems. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (2011) PTSD impairs one’s ability to function in social or family life, which includes instability, marital problems, divorce, family conflict, and difficulty in parenting (p. 3). PTSD causes much impairment and has many contributing factors; for that reason, it is important to discuss the quality of services available to

Read More
1290 Words | 6 Pages

In some cases, the service member has faced charges in both court systems. Numerous articles and television reports expose sexual assaults and rape that occurs within the ranks of the U.S. military. The military is constantly under scrutiny for its policies, the handling of sexual assault cases, and the treatment of sexual assault victims. Yet despite

Read More

More about Military Sexual Trauma Essay

Related Topics

Open Document