When I was growing up there were these laughably
ineffective TV messages aimed at kids to ward them away from drugs. They usually
featured some variation on a good clean looking kid being approached out of the
shadows by some shady older kid offering drugs and calling him a chicken for
refusing. We always laughed at the absurdity of these ads because they looked
nothing like anything we ever experienced. Every teenager knows that this is
simply not how kids encounter drugs for the first time, or any time for that
matter. The target message – “Just Say No” to drugs – was effectively lost for
a complete failure to understand the issue.
I kept thinking about this while watching the second half
of The Invisible War, the
Oscar-nominated documentary about the disproportionally high incidence of rape
and sexual assault in the U.S. military. After devoting the first half to
personal stories, director Kirby Dick changes gears to focus on the military’s
idea of prevention of this appalling trend. A special program was developed
along with training videos and an awareness campaign complete with posters
advising female recruits to never go anywhere without a buddy, and other recruits
to not keep silent when they witness something inappropriate. Most egregious of
all is probably the ubiquitous slogan offering the helpful advice to “ask again
when she’s sober.” It’s simply mind-boggling to think that in the 21st
century anyone still believes that rape is something that mostly occurs while
walking alone at night, not to mention that the prevention campaign is almost
entirely aimed at turning victims into irresponsible women just asking for it.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
the institutional blindness and cover-up when it comes to an epidemic that will
only be changed through widespread soul-searching of how the military conducts
investigations and real honest educational programs that seek to instill an
understanding that women are not responsible for their own rapes.
I keep referring to women, but of course men have been
the victims of sexual assault in the military as well. Initially we hear the
details of enlistment, the particulars as to why six or seven women who chose
to participate in the film decided to join the military. Gradually they reveal
that they were raped. None of their stories are of the date rape variety where
a night alone in a room with a man goes too far maybe or maybe not against her
will. These are cases of violent and forcible rape, sometimes involving drugged
women, sometimes involving more than one assailant, always entirely about a demonstration
of masculine power over another.
The first six stories are devastating enough, but Dick
withholds the real impact until after several have been told, when he reveals
in brief cuts another dozen or fifteen additional rape victims talking about
their assaults. The sheer enormity of the problem is illustrated in one fell
swoop and suddenly you realize this is an institutional nightmare. What the
film shows us that we maybe often forget is that rape is not a crime that
disappears after the bruises heal. These women continue to live with the
traumatic after-effects of their assaults. We’re told that PTSD in rape victims
is often worse or found at a higher rate than men who’ve been in combat. Kori Cioca,
the Coast Guard veteran whose story is really the centerpiece of the film,
continues to live with a jaw that doesn’t allow her anything other than a soft
diet, the result of being hit in the face before her rape. She also suffers
terrible intimacy issues with her husband, also a Coast Guard veteran, who
tries to be the very model of understanding. Imagine being the man whose wife
recoils when you touch her hand or give her a hug? Dick shows us phone call
after phone call to the Veterans Administration in which Cioca tries to learn
the status of her claim for disability and medical coverage. It turns out she
doesn’t meet the military disability requirements because she didn’t complete
her full two years of service. Is this how we treat our service members? Sorry
you were raped and couldn’t stand to stay at your post, but you don’t get full
veterans benefits because you missed the cut off by a couple of months. If this
doesn’t make your blood boil and your heart sink, you might want to check your
humanity.
It’s easy to watch this film and get the sense that every
woman in the military suffers sexual assault or that every man in the military
is a potential rapist. I think that’s a dangerous idea. I understand why these
women want little to do with the military and why they insist they will not
permit their daughters to enlist, but it’s important to keep in mind, however
prevalent these cases are – and I don’t deny that they occur at an alarmingly
high rater – that the military is not necessarily a dangerous place for women
to build a career. I do find it terribly ironic after viewing this film that
the big discussion in the news today with regard to women in the military has
to do with their service in combat roles, which has just been approved by
Secretary of Defense Panetta. It seems there may be other important issues to
tackle before worrying about women’s equality on the front lines.
As journalism, The
Invisible War is almost top notch. As documentary filmmaking it is flawless
in that it takes on a subject of grave importance, highlights multiple facets
of the issue including touching on past incidents like the Navy Tailhook incident
that stirred a public uproar. Then it takes on the people in authority who aren’t
doing enough, generates a strong emotional reaction, and finally reveals that
measures have been taken by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to make
substantive change to the prosecution of these crimes – changes ordered in effect
two days after Panetta viewed the film last year. That’s truly the remarkable
thing here – that Dick has made a call to action and someone in a position to
effect real change has done something. Still, it’s not enough as the film tells
us in its closing. But this is a step in the right direction.
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