Reply #86: The mysogyny is the least of the problem

[booley]

First let me say that from my time in the navy, this story about this poor young woman is not in the least surprising.

But it's also part of a much bigger problem. The same problem that made the Navy lie about the USS Iowa blowing up and performign a witch hunt against the first women to serve on a ship (accusing them of being lesbains rather then investigate thier charges of harrasment). It's why the military downplays PTSD and Gulf War Syndrome and Depleted uranium, It's why they always seem to need to be forced to acknowledge and investigate when there are potential war crimes. It why there seem to be a whole host of abuses in the military and the people in charge seem to alway be more interested in covering it up then fixing the problem.

Simply put, the military , like so many institutions, is far more concerned with it's image then the harm it's people do. Any abuse or corruption or atrocity committed in it's name is not seen as a problem in and of itself but only in terms of how it plays out in the P.R. So if the rape victim can be said to be a drunken slut, that's a far easier thing to deal with then a rape, from a PR perspective.

As long as that is the case (and what's to make it otherwise?) then the abuses will continue.