An article originally published in the Los Angeles Times and reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reveals that 15% of female soldiers who have sought medical care after being deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan between 2001 and 2007 experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment during their service. The percentage of male soldiers who were sexually abused during that time was 0.7%. And the women who were sexually violated were 2.3 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder than women who were not violated.
Last year, the New York Times published a feature story in its weekly magazine about the lives of female soldiers in today’s overstretched military and the incidence of sexual abuse in the military. And earlier this year, the Times reported on female employees of U.S. contractors in Iraq who have testified in front of Congress about the sexual abuse they suffered while on the job overseas.
I’m glad this issue is finally getting some attention. In 2007 when “Honor Betrayed: Sexual Abuse In America’s Military” was published I thought it would get the problem in the news but the mainstream media says “it isn’t newsworthy.” If someone you loved was sexually abused by those who were supposed to be watching her/his back it would be news!