Women in the Military

In one of my other classes we read a piece written by a woman in the military, and in it she discusses her experiences.  She talks a lot about how men treated her and how she perceived other women she was working with. The piece was an excerpt from a book titled “Love My Rifle More than You”, and I thought it was an interesting contrast to a movie on Netflix I recently watched called the “The Invisible War”. The piece I read in class was very negative towards other women in the military describing them as “Queens for a Year” (a term used for military women getting more attention because of their sex while oversees), and that women who chose to sleep with their coworkers ruin the reputation of all. I think that this concept can be seen in real life oftentimes too, where women instead of supporting one another are actually contributing to slut-shaming and policing each other.  I was shocked by how little camaraderie she felt with the other women, she mostly described a sense of jealousy.  Also in the article that I read in class it never once talked about the huge problem of sexual assault in the military.  I was curious if in the book it is mentioned it somewhere else, so I searched online and found it was a topic she never discussed in the book. I was shocked that in a book about her experience and women in the military generally, she never once touched on an issue that would seem very relevant women’s experiences. Below is the trailer for “The Invisible War”, which if anyone has time I would highly recommend that you watch. Until watching this I was unaware of just how extensive a problem rape for both women and men in the military was, and how little is being done to change it.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fBaFQk6aE0