Rape in the Military: A Male Dominated System that Fosters Sexual Terrorism and Serves as the Extension of Our Society Views.

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Horrified, devastated, infuriated, astonished, disgusted, and sadden; some of the emotions that flowed through me as I watched and listened to the survivor recount their stories and events that occurred when they where sexually assaulted or raped. The Invisible War is a powerful documentary, written and directed by Kirby Dick,that sheds light on the subject of gendered violence, sexual assault, sexual terrorism, and rape in the military. Through interviews from different ranking veterans, who served in multiple branches of the United Sates army, and statistics gathered from the Department of Defense, this documentary paints a grotesque picture of what awaits an individual, central focus on women, if they decides to join the military.
Western Society is building on the backbone of patriarchy- the right of men to control the female body. These patriarchal ideals assert, “The superiority of males and the inferiority of females and in turn breed the concept of sexism- prejudice against a person gender or sex. As Ted Bunch sated in an interview “where we find Patriarchy, we find sexism. Where we find sexism, we find women who are not valued, and we find violence against women”(Rethinking Manhood, Bunch). In this interview Bunch illuminates Carole J. Sheffield concept of Sexual terrorism. A system by which males frighten females- of all ages, race, and class with rape, battery, incest, harassment, and all other forms of sexual violence, in order to assert their control and dominance over females. Sheffield is correct in arguing that sexual terrorism, an epidemic in western culture, is the root of gender oppression because, as I will discuss in my analysis of the military, a male dominated system that fosters sexism and serves as the e...

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...ouble Jeopardy: Women, The US Military And The War In Iraq." Women's Studies International Forum 30.1 (2007): 16-25. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 May 2014.

Mercier, Noémi, and Alec Castonguay. "Our Military's Disgrace." Maclean's 127.17 (2014): 18-26. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 May 2014.

Naples, Nancy A. "Borderlands Studies and Border Theory: Linking Activism and Scholarship for Social Justice." Sociology Compass 4.7 (2010): 505-18. Web. 26 May 2014.

Pearson, Alyn. "Rape Culture: It's All Around Us." Off Our Backs30.8 (2000): 12. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 May 2014.

"Rethinking Manhood." Journal Of International Affairs 67.1 (2013): 217-223. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 May 2014.

Sheffield, Carole J. "9.2 Sexual Terrorism." Women, a Feminist Perspective. By Jo Freeman. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Pub., 1979. 409-24. Web. 26 May

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