"The War Upon Women Rages On"

Let there be no doubt about this: the wars this country conducts could not be maintained without the continual exploitation of women.

The military has, of late, been trying to polish its reputation when it comes to its treatment of women soldiers. But it's window-dressing if you look at the numbers. Soldiers are told one thing in class and then taught another thing entirely by their experience. Women who report sexual harassment or rape are punished. The men culpable have their knuckles rapped.

Why is this so? I believe it is two reasons: A) There is still a large percentage of men in the military who don't want women there and they are more than willing to promote an atmosphere of hostility to women in order to convince them to leave. B) If the military kicked out every male soldier who behaved indecently toward a woman, they wouldn't have enough people left to fight their wars. So they feel they can't afford to take women's safety and integrity seriously.

Helen Benedict, a journalism professor at Columbia, has a book coming out about the plight of women soldiers. This excerpt from her book is available over at The Nation. It paints a horrifying picture. Something must be done.