Combating a Different Enemy: Proposals to Change the Culture of Sexual Assault in the Military
![handle is hein.journals/vllalr55 and id is 477 raw text is: 2010]
Comment
COMBATING A DIFFERENT ENEMY: PROPOSALS TO CHANGE THE
CULTURE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY
[T]he U.S. government and its military aspire to preserve the
dignity and promote the fair treatment of service members
across lines of gender and military rank, an aspiration thwarted
by the persistence of sexual exploitation and assault within
the services.-Prof. Elizabeth L. Hillman'
I. THE STARTLING TRUTH ABOUT MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT
Military members agree to sacrifice their lives for their country; yet,
United States military women are more likely to be raped by a fellow mili-
tary member than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.2 The irony is that a
deployed female military member must find ways to protect herself not
just against the enemy, but also against her comrades-in-arms.3 Statistics
justify these fears; military sexual assault rates are twice as high as civilian
rates and the majority of the assailants in the military setting are fellow
1. Sexual Assault in the Military Part Three: Context and Causes: Hearing Before the
Subcomm. on Nat'1 Sec. and Foreign Affairs of the H. Comm. on Oversight and Gov't Re-
form, 111th Cong. 1 (2009) [hereinafter Hearings 2009] (statement of Elizabeth L.
Hillman, Prof., Univ. of Cal. Hastings Coll. of Law). Hillman argued that the cur-
rent military approach to preventing sex crimes is hindered, in part, because
United States military law is dominated by legal precedents involving sexual vio-
lence and racialized images. See id. (connecting prevalence of sexual offenses to
military law). The disproportionate number of important precedent cases involv-
ing sex crimes has shaped the military legal culture by making male sexual vio-
lence and female vulnerability appear to be the norm. See id. at 5-6 (describing
how prevalence of sex crimes cases in military precedence influences military legal
culture and military justice system).
2. See Sexual Assault in the Military: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Nat '1 Sec. and
Foreign Affairs of the H. Comm. on Oversight and Gov't Reform, 110th Cong. 1 (2008)
(statement of Jane Harman, Cong. Rep.). Of the female veterans seen at one Vet-
erans Administration health center, forty-one percent were victims of sexual assault
and twenty-nine percent were raped, all while in the military. See id. (discussing
extent of military sexual assault and criticizing official response).
3. See HELEN BENEDICT, THE LONELY SOLDIER 167-68 (2009) (recalling stories
of deployed military women protecting themselves from rape by fellow military
members). Deployed female soldiers reportedly carried knives not for protection
against the enemy, but for protection against rape by men in their units. See id. at
168 (quoting former soldier, Mickiela Montoya, who indicated that she wasn't
carrying the knife for the enemy, [she] was carrying it for the guys on [her] own
side).
(475)](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/vllalr55&div=18&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Combating a Different Enemy: Proposals to Change the Culture of Sexual Assault in the Military
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most