Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for June 08, 2012

Mel, you’re dwelling.

Perhaps, the good principal would like to bury his head in the sand? So many others have done so.

Actually victims do not have to report through the chain of command (although that is an option if the perp is not part of the chain of cmmand). GT usually does better research than this. Rape is a crime, and the victim can go directly to the military police. She can also go to the military hospital, report it through there, and request confidentiality. Eventually the matter is turned over to the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, who assigns a Victims Advocate. All of this is because the military knows that victims need a recourse when the chain of command is not the answer.

Hierarchical power structures which emphasize inter-group loyalty, being a ‘team player’, and protecting the group from scandal and outside interference — rarely have a good record for policing themselves, though they may spend a lot of time putting up the facade of policing themselves.This can be true of governments in general, but especially government departments like the military and the police, with their strong esprit-de-corps and in-group, out-group distinctions. Not to mention the Roman Catholic Church. These are authoritarian bodies, and rape is all about power and authority, even more than about sex. Nobody likes to talk about it, but one of the reasons it took so long for women to gain some equality in the work place, and people didn’t want to see their daughters and wives in the workplace, was because of the prevalence of rape, or quasi-rape. From the Hollywood ‘casting couch’ to department store salesgirl who had better put out to the floorwalker if she wanted to keep her job, power corrupted and was abused. Women at the bottom of an all-male power structure are at a disadvantage that goes beyond that of other employees. Even if 9/10 of the men involved would never dream of personally abusing their authority. Sometimes, especially if 9/10 just have a hard time believing that the 1/10 are ‘really so bad.’

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

It’s time everybody knows what the service women defending our countries and our streets go through at the hands of their male, and often jealous, colleagues. It’s time it was stamped out and more perpetrators were dealt far more harshly, and not excuse them by saying they are suffering from the stress of their work or because the men are so far from their families and loved ones. Just punish them for their crimes, men who treat their female colleagues like this, are not heroes!

Off subject- Remember the USS Liberty and its brave Sailors and Marines who were murdered this day in 1967 by the Israeli military. I am an American Jew who was in ASA working for NSA just like these men who were in NSG. I have not celebrated my birthday since.

According to Melissa in the Doonesbury strip of two days ago, 20% of women soldiers have been assaulted. Since the U.S. Army currently has approximately 85,000 women soldiers (15.5% of the total active-duty enlistment, not counting reserves) we are talking about (among the current enlisted) 16,800 incidents of – what? Forcible rape? Improper touching? Lewd remarks? Making a pass? Being talked to harshly? We need some definitions here. (I’ve done some Google research regarding a description of “Sexual Assault.” Definitions differ widely. Some advocacy organizations by their definition sets the sexual assault bar, in my opinion, fairly low – an unwelcomed request for a date could qualify.)`Gifted storyteller he is, it’s not always obvious just where Garry Trudeau aims to take his characters, but I’m wondering if the character Melissa “Mel” Wheeler is turning out as he originally intended. Maybe Melissa is supposed to be an example of a self-reliant woman soldier overcoming adversity in a hostile environment. Instead, I see the character as basically a self-pitying martyr with personal issues that undoubtedly predated her sexual assault. Let us not forget that Melissa is in her current position voluntarily – Trudeau did have his character reenlist after the post-assault counseling. If Melissa were a real-life person, we should all be grateful that in Afghanistan she was in a rear support team and not in a position to hold an automatic assault rifle.

gmartin997 – young adults (and children) are more open to harsh information than regular adults. This IS an appropriate outlet for this discussion. The grown-ups are the ones that are freaking out.

alabama al: If Melissa were a real-life person, we should all be grateful that in Afghanistan she was in a rear support team and not in a position to hold an automatic assault rifle.if melissa were a real life person, her perpetrator is the one that would grateful she is not in a position to hold an automatic assault rifle. though i do not condone murder, the weapon could discharge while it was being cleaned…

This is an excellent argument for why military women should only be nurses or secretaries. Guys aren’t going to change, unless you only allow eunuchs to join up.A few years ago, I knew an 18 year old girl who went to the Naval Academy, who was an "8"or “9”. Pretty face, 36-24-36. She had to transfer to another college because of the wolfish behavior of her classmates. What do you expect? She was hot looking, and these were normal American boys. In other words, horny as hell.

Kudos to Trudeau for putting this issue front & center!

High school is a very good time to start making the acquaintaince of the real world. Not to plunge in head over heels, but starting to learn that there is real evil out there.

Rape is certainly the ultimate in PTSD.

As well as it works anywhere else. MPs and clinics are located at the FOB with the same mission. Most have a SARC.

Which places cadets at equal risk as college students all over the US

@Pacobuddy

Yes, men don’t want to know. That’s why a man, GT (he is a man, isn’t he?) is writing this series on this issue when he could be doing any number of other issues, most less controversial than this one, and other men, like myself, are reading and commenting.

I’m glad that the percentage of women like yourself, who think all men condone sexual harassment, are in a small minority, just like the percentage of men who condone sexual harassment.

I am appalled—and considerably shaken—by the comments I read here today. So Mel is full of hate? Let’s examine this.

The words of several of the men here who—as they describe Mel in various ways—are more purely directed hate than her words, which are mostly statistics. If you believe that statistics are hate talk, then you clearly have an issue with the truth.

The idea that young men have to have it has been total rubbish from year one. “Have to have it?” “HAVE to have it?” What happens if these young men don’t get it? Do they die? No? Well, hmm. HAVE to have to. Do they have strokes or heart attacks or get testicular cancer? No? Well, hmmm. HAVE to have it. They HAVE to have it like most Americans need another bag of Cheetos. Th isat is, they want it, another forgettable want, like another cheap plastic toy you buy a kid who breaks it in the first five minutes. With a nickel’s worth of anything more substantial than self-indulgent thinking, NOBODY HAS to have it—except psychopaths, who can’t help themselves. Are these young men you have in mind psychopaths?

I thought we had put a stake through the heart of this “women are asking for it” and “women shouldn’t be in the military” and “we shouldn’t let women…” talk forty years ago. And you know? i don’t see how it benefits anyone to even think this way these days.

Don’t you guys have daughters? Or are you too manly to spawn daughters?

do return to the board after you have experienced her kind of trauma. in case you have developed a bit of merciful pity – so useful in these troubled times.

who will guard the guards? oh,, nemmind – stockholm syndrome kicks in, and everybody’s happy again..

Change will come but it is slow and painful. I thought we already had the discussion over birth control and abortion 40 years ago too. Technology is a factor which is helping along many changes in the way war is conducted as well as the role that males and females play in the world. I am not comfortable with saying that the environment that cadets are in is comparable to what we see on college campuses. I think they are very different. That being said, society as a whole has to change. Just like we see in education, schools are only a product of the larger community. It is not fair to expect the schools to take on every single social ill. Sure schools can have an impact but families are very important too. What happens in greater society will have an impact on what happens with our men and women in uniform.

In the long run, the attitude of boys will be boys helps no one. Even the testosterone laced boys someone spoke about. They will have to answer for their criminal behavior so long as someone stands up to them and the system backs up that person. The 1st lady said recently that the president’s grandmother experienced the glass ceiling effect often in her career. As a result, the family that she was working to support had to suffer. Of course, there were both males and females in that family. Also, if a woman doesn’t have access to birth control it doesn’t only mean that that woman will suffer because of it! I know that many folks can’t see the forest for the trees but there it is.

Most guys wouldn’t mind being on that ship, even if the women are homely

It isn’t just a woman’s issue either. Guys have been assaulted but try to reconcile that in a macho arena when you’re still exploring sexuality.

Of course it isn’t just a woman’s issue. That is exactly right.

And even if it is a woman who is victimized, it still isn’t just a woman’s issue.

Wow, did you guys seriously have that little control over your own bodies that you’re defending rape? I was in the military during my ‘rape years’ of 18-21 and at no point did I ever feel like raping a woman. Saying they ‘need it’ is akin to saying that combat soldiers need to kill other people, no matter who they are. Going nuts with a gun and killing non-combatants is still considered a crime. If you can’t learn to control your own impulses, use that impulse to kill yourself. You’re holding the human race back.

Systems are perpetuated in the interest of whatever gods or monsters are in power. The monsters are more likely to have their subjects come after them with torches.

Works the same way. MPs and military criminal investigators are in the combat zone, too.

This whole theme is showing GT’s lack of research.

Trudeau bashing anything good in this nation? Huh? So we are supposed to be in lock step with everything the military does? Really? The military works for us. They are human beings and like all human beings they do screw up sometimes. Maybe he will take on homosexual marriage as a topic next. If he does, feel free not to read it. It is a free country, not one that is run by the military.

I would hate to think that our enemies might take comfort in knowing that some don’t respect the women who are serving in our military. Think of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a POW for 3 years in Afghanistan. There is supposed to be an article about him in Rolling Stone in a couple weeks.

“Mel – your dwelling?” It’s that kind of attitude that is going to make sure that rape remains a problem in the military.Congratulations, leftwingpatriot, you are now officially part of the problem.

Did you miss the B.D. injury, hospitalization and rehab arc from a few year’s ago? Toggle dealing with his war-related injuries? You may also want to google all of the positive responses GT has received over the years from enlisted, commissioned and DoD for his “treatement” of the military.

So the military is like the Catholic Church.

Larry: I was in ’Nam when the Liberty incident occurred. I find it interesting that in the U.S., “Never Forget” has become “OOPS! NEVER REMEMBER”, that ’Nam was stupid, our “friend in the Middle East” is the ONLY ONE to attack us without provocation, and WITH warnings to STOP, which the DID NOT!

We repeated the mistakes in defending them, over, and over, and over again, including our invasions of Iraq, and invasion of Afghanistan, and well, on, and on.

We are also to forget those who have served, and suffered, since Viet Nam started to “defend” this nation, including WOMEN in service, who’ve long been ignored for their valid complaints and concerns. After all, one must respect the great god PROFIT! OOPS, “war”.

Anything, anything, that reduces corporate profit, be it caring for the troops, providing post-service care, or admitting that while the military IS doing better today, abuse, of various types, was rampant for decades, but “among the forgotten”.

My uneducated take on this, since I am not in the military… is that many males in the military tend to have a huge overabundance of testosterone to begin with, and that increases exponentially in a war zone to the level of craziness.

Bill Maher is having a guest who has done a movie on the GT cartoon topic of this week. How very topical.

Only 20 years? I hope it was all UNDER the jail!

And put an end to the first (and maybe last) lesson in “real life” they may ever get (until they are victims themselves).

@crisnp — the report I used in my Women’s Study Course said that victims do indeed have to go thru the chain of command. Maybe things have changed in the past 5 years and that would be good

@pacopuddy — as I’ve said before in this arc I work with a Domestic Violence Coalition and it has been fairly well established that only men will ever be able to stop rape (and other forms of abuse). They need to speak out and ostracize other men who commit and brag about it. When it stops being fashionable to talk about how they “put the little woman in her place” at the local watering hole, much of the behavior will stop.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics. Take the RadFem influenced lies out and get the real truth. The fact is that most reported rapes int he millitary are false accusations because of the anti fratrinization regulations. Others are attempts to ruin a male servicemember for revenge purposes. Of the rape allegations that are founded with actual evidence of a crime the millitary comes down on the perpatrator like the hammer of an angry pagan God. The elephant in the room, and what the RadFems wont tell you is that females do make False Accusations all the time for a myriad of reasons.

Whatever gives everyone the notion that this is a problem that is new with FEMALE troops …?

Reality sucks.