WASHINGTON -- It may become a landmark case to force the military to take rape and sexual assault seriously. Or it could be yet another failed attempt in a decades-long battle by women to be accepted in the armed forces.

 

Seventeen veterans and active-duty service members today took the first step to determining that, suing the Pentagon on charges of violating their constitutional rights to serve their country.

 

They accused two secretaries of defense of condoning, ignoring and implicitly encouraging sexual abuse in the ranks in a 42-page complaint filed in federal district court in Alexandria, Va., which contains phrases like "f---ing whore," "bitch" and "troublemaker."

 

The plaintiffs, who include two men, come from every military branch. They charge they were victimized twice -- once by their assailants and again by the institution they served.

 

"The system is driven by rape myths," said Myla Haider, a former Army criminal investigator who was raped by a co-worker. The co-worker was later court-martialed in another case as a "serial sex offender."

 

"There is a pervasive attitude within DOD that any man might commit these types of offenses and therefore when these things do come up it is seen as something that is commited by a peer or just another soldier" and not taken seriously, said Haider, a plaintiff in the suit.

 

Such attitudes aren't new. Ever since the infamous Tailhook scandal broke out in 1991 after the first Gulf War, an unending series of investigations, congressional hearings, reports, training regimens and special offices have sought to end the problem that the acronym-obsessed service now has given its very own name: MST -- military sexual trauma.

 

More here:

 

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/15/17-victims-sue-pentagon-over-plague-of-sexual-violence/

 

I read on another site that there were 3,200 reports of sexual assault in the US military in 2009. I'm not an expert on sexual assault or anything, but isn't that a hell of a lot higher than the average per capita amount of sexual assaults? That's about 9 sexual assaults reported per day in the US Miltary.

 

America's finest. :dozey:

Wow 3,200 reports

 

thats freaky, plus there are probably heaps more that werent reported too

A lot of sexual assaults aren't reported for various reasons, yes... so there are likely to be more. Bah. Sickening they're not taking it more seriously...

Yeah my best friend has been raped and it effected her extremely

and has never been the same and im affraid that she wont be either

its a horrible and discusting thing to do to someone if you want some action go

buy a prostitute

Rape isn't as solvable as "buying a prostitute" because people who commit rape get enjoyment from the other partner suffering and from the lack of consent. There was a case some time ago in the US where the rape of a sex worker was classed by the judge as 'theft of goods'... so...

 

But yeah, it's a really terrible thing. Really shits me that a sort of culture that accepts this exists in the Pentagon.

3,000 of which came from Bill Clinton