Are armies rapist by nature? (response) -- Stellar Conflict Online

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Date Posted: 23:00:13 08/14/02 Wed
Author: Bill
Subject: Are armies rapist by nature? (response)

The following question was posed at the SCIFI.COM meassage boards:

"Subject: Who Agrees with Frank Herbert?

That armies are rapist in nature? And that women soldiers are more nuturing, and therefor more responsible than the classic model? And does that conflict with the ruthlessness required of a soldier?

Below is the response I gave in that forum:

"Well, I don't believe that an army, as an institution, is rapist by nature. Armed forces have laws and codes of conduct just as civilian communities do. The problem lies with the chaos and unaccountability of combat and warfare in general. Individuals tend to have a better chance of getting away with rape (whether they are soliders, refugees, whatever) in a combat environment since there is a near-total lack of civil law, coupled with the fact that many rape victims would tend to come from the enemy side. (By the way, this is also true of most other crimes, including murder). Add to that the emotional intensity of warfare, which makes criminal actions more likely in soldiers unable to mentally cope with the enormous stress. However, in the case of rape, I do not believe the stress of combat would turn an otherwise good man into a savage rapist, even if he suffered a mental breakdown. Any soldier who rapes a woman (in wartime) probably had few reservations about commiting the act back in civilian life (or in peacetime). Remember, I am talking about rape. This would not include a soldier beating the crap out of a female enemy soldier because that woman just blew away his comrade. In that case, the woman got beaten up *despite* being a woman, not because of being one.

As far as female soldiers being more nurturing, I don't think there's much evidence of that on the battlefield. Nor would there really be a place for it. Women soldiers may be less "macho" than their male counterparts in general, but I don't think that would necessarily translate into a woman being more forgiving towards an enemy soldier who, say, just blew the brains out of her comrade. I think she'd still be pissed off as all hell, and probably would have no problem hammering the enemy trooper with the butt of her rifle.

- Bill Dusty
billyd64@aol.com

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Replies:

Armies Use Rape as Weapon (a viewpoint) -- -Bill, 19:54:44 08/15/02 Thu