Main Post 4/19

Enloe in All Men are in the Militias, All Women are Victims and Spoils of War discusses in particular the case of Borislav Herak who was involved in rapes/murders during his time in the Serbian militia. She talks about how a person who was seemily not violent or angry could turn into the type of person to commit such acts. She says Borislav is only one of many people who underwent this type of transformation through the military and that the situation in Serbia is only one of many examples around the world throughout history. She says the situation men were put into helped to create the situation where the felt they needed to commit rapes and murders and that the higher authorities they were under are partially to blame for the men’s actions. She says the men were conditioned to no longer feel that killing was bad and that the rapes were just another perk of being a soldier. She also talks about how mothers were involved in helping their sons get involved in military life because of some social pressure they felt while the sons also felt pressures to be manly and meet some sort of societal expectations of being a fighter. In an interview with Borislav we can see that he was confused as to why he did things that he says he felt he did not want to and how affected he was by the culture of the military. In Spoils of War she connects these rapes to the way that women are given to soldiers as a supposed necessary item so that the soldiers can complete their jobs to the best of their ability. She talks about an incident at Okinawa in Japan and the way that it is common practice for women to be available for soldiers in a foreign land.

In A Peril in War Zones: Sexual Abuse by Fellow G.I.’s and Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In by Stephen Lee Myers the life of women in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan is discussed. These papers talk about sexual assault of women in the military on site and how women are feeling as they have been integrated into the military. The women in the military face the danger of sexual assault with the added pressure of being judged by their peers and superiors, Myers says while giving examples of many who have had situations with sexual assault and their range of outcomes they have faced from discharge to their assailants being prosecuted. Myers cites statistics of rising incidences of sexual assault and the debate over whether this comes from more assaults or more reported assaults. The second article by Myers talks about how women have made their way in the military and how they have changed the standards in the military over time and how they have found ways to make their lives acceptable to themselves and to their male counterparts. A woman in the military sums it up by saying, ““You’re a bitch, a slut or a dyke — or you’re married, but even if you’re married, you’re still probably one of the three,” Sergeant Bradford said” (Living and Fighting, 1). But Myers also shows the bright sides of being a woman in the military through the many good times and successes the women have. Myers does make it apparent the strength the women must have to succeed in this man’s world.