Red, White and Blue Rape

I've never been raped.

Honestly, I've never really considered that level of physical violation. Sure, like most men, I've joked about dropping the soap in jail or getting molested by some handsy priest, but I never took those threats seriously.

I've never sized up the shrubs along the sidewalk to see if they were big enough to hide a man, or checked the backseat of my car late at night for a predator. A friend of mine told me she carries a condom in her purse just so she could beg a potential rapist to use protection if he attacked her. I've only carried condoms to be prepared in case I got a chance to get laid.

I have no idea what it's like to be a woman.

My lack of understanding was beaten into my mind recently when I read a set of articles in several publications about rape in the military. Please check them out below.

The Nation.

The LA Times

Salon.

I cannot comprehend the betrayal and agony these women feel. It's beyond my puny empathy to appreciate their hurt. In fact, I almost feel like I'm insulting them by trying to relate to their pain. No matter how many books I read, no matter how many activists or women I poll, I will never truly understand what it's like to spend most of my life with a bulls-eye painted below my waist.

But, what I can do is get angry. In fact, I can do that quite well. Brushing aside anguish and despair, I can fully embrace the righteous anger we should all feel when we're confronted with evil. Because what happened to these women in Iraq and what happened to them when they returned home was the true definition of evil.

My wrath is directed first at the despicable men who would prey on their comrades; stalk the very people they have sworn to protect. But, my real venom is for a government that not only allows these actions to occur, but also seems to tacitly approve of them.

Oh, I'm sure that if we polled the entire Pentagon we wouldn't find a single person who believed the rape and sexual assault of female soldiers is acceptable. Truthfully, only the saltiest old codgers wouldn't express disgust at the rampant sexual harassment these women face.

Yet, when nearly a quarter of the women we send to war are being sexually assaulted the only thing this country does to protect them is create an anonymous website?

Really?

This is a hideous abdication of duty. For me, this is worse than any of the false statements used to draw us into war and the changing rationale that has kept us there. This is a core betrayal, in many ways worse than when African Americans risked their lives for this country in various conflicts only to return home to segregation and discrimination. These women are being asked to deal with all the stresses of war, while also dealing with being prey.

Yet, much of our national media focuses on polls, passport files and YouTube clips. Talking heads debate when Obama knew about his pastor and if Hillary is being treated fairly. There is no wall-to-wall coverage of this sexual assault data, no outcry against the Pentagon's refusal to step in and make these women safe.

The media can pressure Hillary to release her tax records and schedule, but they cannot force the Pentagon to keep accurate statistics on how many women have been raped in Iraq? Media hordes can descend on Trinity United Church of Christ but they can't follow up on the fact that the overwhelming majority of reported military rapes do not even result in arrest?

While we get our daily dose of drivel, a female soldier in Iraq is pissing on herself because she's scared to walk to the latrines alone.

Where is our anger, where are our priorities?

Every blog needs to be calling for media attention to this issue, we need to be pressuring news organizations to get to the heart of what is happening. I've been as guilty as most for being unaware and unconcerned about this problem, but that changes now. I care about these women, these mothers, sisters and daughters. We should all care about their fate.

This cannot be something we learn to live with.