Title: Understanding Sexual Assault In The Armed Forces Requires Looking Outside The Military - Task & Purpose
Headings: Understanding Sexual Assault In The Armed Forces Requires Looking Outside The Military
Understanding Sexual Assault In The Armed Forces Requires Looking Outside The Military
I deployed to Iraq with three women eight years ago who would become my best friends. We didn’t know each … Continued

Content: However, it can encompass vaginal, anal, oral penetration by a penis or an object, as well as groping, or unwanted/non-consensual sexual interaction. All of which is considered an invasion of the person, and an assault. Dr. Callie Rennison, a violence against women expert at the University of Colorado, Denver, said in an interview with Task & Purpose, “Sexual assault is violence, but it is too often viewed as something other than rape.” Therefore, sexual assault is often viewed as “regretted sex,” instead of the violent act that it is. This is largely because the issue gets sexualized too often. Male victims have the difficulty of reporting their abuses due to stigmas associated with male-on-male assault. However, female victims face the difficulty of being sexualized due to deep cultural biases against female agency demonstrated with the history of the very term “rape.” For instance, in any given rape case, questions quickly emerge about what she wore, how drunk she may have been, and her relationship with the attacker or previous sexual history. Dr. Rennison explained that society tends to view rape as binary. Either it’s “real rape” or not rape;