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    IvrinielJoanna Rothkopf
    5/23/16 5:30pm

    Anybody know how things are going in Australia since their Army Chief released this statement?

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      Das, evil rabbit and obnoxious (half)germanIvriniel
      5/23/16 5:50pm

      Wow you can just see him seething...

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      DammitPamIvriniel
      5/23/16 6:06pm

      That was unbelievably powerful.

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    BlessedAreTheHedas. Our fight is not over.Joanna Rothkopf
    5/23/16 4:14pm

    Isn't it really, sexual assault victims everywhere face ingrained cultures that protect the accused?

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      benjaminalloverBlessedAreTheHedas. Our fight is not over.
      5/23/16 4:29pm

      Ya but then in the military they’re additionally burdened and stigmatized in being discharged with a “personality disorder” and losing their careers.

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      BlessedAreTheHedas. Our fight is not over.benjaminallover
      5/23/16 4:40pm

      Yeah, I read the Human Rights Report a few days ago, it's bleak. I'm in no way diminishing the extra hell shouldered by military rape victims, it's more a sigh, scream, what the hell is wrong with humanity, frustration. I wish this were a surprise, but it isn't.

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    Rebel GirlJoanna Rothkopf
    5/23/16 7:23pm

    “The Pentagon, for their part, said that the HRW report was based on outdated, incorrect information.”

    Bull. Shit.

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      iElvis is Now Funded by Peter ThielJoanna Rothkopf
      5/23/16 4:40pm

      As a vet, these stories just break my heart. I can tell you from personal experience that the military is an enormous bureaucracy that exists to perpetuate itself and guard its prerogatives and values, and it pushes back hard against anything that is perceived to threaten them. It’s not that the system is designed to facilitate rape, it’s that criminal accusations (of any sort) against senior members are a serious threat to good order and the system naturally resists them.

      Add to that the macho-warrior-alpha male-brodude ethos that pervades everything it does, the fact that recruits are disproportionately drawn from sectors of American society that value traditional gender roles, and the reality that military life often means being isolated in remote areas with no one else around but your fellow servicemembers (IOW, if you’re a guy, there’s no one to date but the few females on base), and you’ve got a recipe for problems that isn’t easily solved.

      The only way forward is to keep harping on this issue. We’re turning a supertanker.

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        dcgirl13iElvis is Now Funded by Peter Thiel
        5/23/16 5:40pm

        I think you’ve also got some unique cultural issues. I’m sure it’s very hard to believe a guy you literally trusted with your life is a rapist. So how do you fight that bias?

        And the for senior officers, the fact that the family loses out if he’s stripped of benefits. It seems like the wives of senior officers are viewed as owning part of the pension. Probably because they’ve done a fair bit of unpaid work and often sacrificed their own careers. It’s kind of archiac in the civilian world, but I get the sense that being a military wife is viewed as a job and the husband’s pension and benefits are compensation.

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      Kenhe LoginJoanna Rothkopf
      5/23/16 4:07pm
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        atomicnumberJoanna Rothkopf
        5/23/16 7:51pm

        I used to know someone who was a lawyer for the Army in these kinds of cases. She totally believed that most women were lying. Also she was a lesbian and her girlfriend worked for a feminist business. So....that didn’t work out well.

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          Haute Messatomicnumber
          5/24/16 8:52am

          I have a friend who's husband is a JAG and he said a lot of these women were just upset the men never called them back (now I think I'm having a seizure from having to repeat that crap).

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        SqarrJoanna Rothkopf
        5/23/16 4:12pm

        Surprise.

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          TheHumanHumanJoanna Rothkopf
          5/23/16 4:05pm

          It’s outdated? Well I’m sure they’ve completely overhauled all of their processes and entire culture in less than two years.

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