Military suffers wave of gay sex assaults.

[notsheigetz]

"The Washington Times article also includes analysis from Aaron Belkin, who heads The Palm Center. He said the rise in male-on-male sexual assault does not reflect the increase of homosexuals in the military but, rather, those assaults are ”?somewhat similar to prison rape.”?
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/military-suf ... x-assaults.

As a veteran of the U.S. Navy I have absolutely no idea what to make of this.

I served in the Vietnam era when there was a draft and I had my first and only experiences of being "hit on" by gays on a couple of occassions but "assaults somewhat similar to prison rape"?

WTF is going on with our all volunteer military?

[MediumTex]

I'll bet things haven't changed that much, it's just being reported more now than in the past, which is probably true of rapes of all types.

[moda0306]

I heard Tom Cruise put it pretty well in a movie I just saw him in (ok STFU it was a decent movie and he raised a good point).

Some people join the military due to a will to serve their country.
Some people join because they're in financial need
Some people want to be able to get away with killing people.

People who are sociopathic probably have violent sexual tendencies.  Of course, this is a wild-ass guess.

I think the rest of government is similar, with some differences.

[notsheigetz]

I'll bet things haven't changed that much, it's just being reported more now than in the past, which is probably true of rapes of all types.

Males raping other males in the military? No way.  They would have been killed.

As for females, well that was another non-issue unless you're talking about a few nurses in war zones which probably did happen more than reported.

[Ad Orientem]

The dirty little secret, men have always been by far the principle victims of sexual assault in the military. I spent ten years in the Navy. No one ever talked about it. But we all knew it happened. A lot of times it wasn't gays. And my guess is a lot of it wasn't exactly assault. When you are deployed for six months people get desperate. And of course men just don't admit to that kind of stuff.

[smurff]

Watch "The Invisible War," which talks about rape (male and female victims) in the military.  It's available on Netflix for online viewing.

IMHO, one problem is that sociopathic behaviors have been unleashed throughout society, and not just the military, as recent gang rapes by teenagers who post their crimes online demonstrate.  The peculiar institutions in the military, where members don't have common constitutional rights as long as they are in service, means there are strange investigatory procedures that practically guarantee that such attacks will not be taken seriously or subject to any judicial intervention.  It's a closed society society and like other closed societies (such as prisons, and large hierarchical religious institutions), the person who is supposed to investigate the allegations is often friends with the alleged perp.  Complicating things further, the military has its own laws, police system, and judiciary, which are cloaked and hidden from the general public, so it has not been subject to the kinds of common sense scrutiny as civilian institutions, at least until things get to the point where they are now.  Some of the dysfunctional dysfunctional procedures are downright medieval.  Rape victims prosecuted for adultery, for example, while the rapists go free.

[MediumTex]

The dirty little secret, men have always been by far the principle victims of sexual assault in the military. I spent ten years in the Navy. No one ever talked about it. But we all knew it happened. A lot of times it wasn't gays. And my guess is a lot of it wasn't exactly assault. When you are deployed for six months people get desperate. And of course men just don't admit to that kind of stuff.

I remember reading an article that cited a study of men who were deployed in any kind of all-male group effort such as a military campaign or a large construction or mining operation in a remote area where there are no women.  The study observed that men who are not otherwise homosexual when given the choice between male and female partners will often begin to engage in homosexual behavior when they are surrounded exclusively by other men.  Once they are out of the all-male situation they typically go back to a strongly heterosexual orientation (assuming that was their orientation to start with).

I remember thinking that the study's findings were really not that surprising, even though they were a little unsettling.

If the study's findings apply to even a small percentage of men, in a force the size of the U.S. military it would make sense that some of these encounters might be nonconsensual.

Like I said in a post above, I think that stuff like this has always gone on, it is just being reported more now.  It's probably also true that some of the attacks are more violent than they might have been in the past, for the same reason that all levels of sociopathic behavior seem to be getting uglier at their extremes, whether you are  school shooter, a rapist, a white collar criminal, or a terrorist.

[smurff]

The dirty little secret, men have always been by far the principle victims of sexual assault in the military. I spent ten years in the Navy. No one ever talked about it. But we all knew it happened. A lot of times it wasn't gays.

I think that gays get blamed a lot for things they did not necessarily do.  So instead of a wave of GAY sex assaults, it's an increase in reported overall  sexual violence.

[murphy_p_t]

I remember reading an article that cited a study of men who were deployed in any kind of all-male group effort such as a military campaign or a large construction or mining operation in a remote area where there are no women.  The study observed that men who are not otherwise homosexual when given the choice between male and female partners will often begin to engage in homosexual behavior when they are surrounded exclusively by other men.  Once they are out of the all-male situation they typically go back to a strongly heterosexual orientation (assuming that was their orientation to start with).

This seems to back up the assertion, that sexual orientation is a choice, rather than something innate, in many people.

[Ad Orientem]

I remember reading an article that cited a study of men who were deployed in any kind of all-male group effort such as a military campaign or a large construction or mining operation in a remote area where there are no women.  The study observed that men who are not otherwise homosexual when given the choice between male and female partners will often begin to engage in homosexual behavior when they are surrounded exclusively by other men.  Once they are out of the all-male situation they typically go back to a strongly heterosexual orientation (assuming that was their orientation to start with).

This seems to back up the assertion, that sexual orientation is a choice, rather than something innate, in many people.

I think it would be more accurate to say that sexual orientation is something one is usually born with. Sexual activity however is a choice. Consider that in the military, which is still an overwhelmingly male institution, probably 75% of enlisted men are under 25. Guys in that age group are at the peak of their sexual drive. While my own memories of that age are vague at best, I do recall that by the end of bootcamp it was a common joke that some of the guys were starting to enjoy pushups a little too much.

So yea, one may have strong preferences one way or another, but if your lost in the desert you might be tempted to drink from the muddy well even if your personal preference is for champagne.

[rocketdog]

One of my Senators is already on the case:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninsca ... a_bill.php

[notsheigetz]

The dirty little secret, men have always been by far the principle victims of sexual assault in the military. I spent ten years in the Navy. No one ever talked about it. But we all knew it happened. A lot of times it wasn't gays. And my guess is a lot of it wasn't exactly assault. When you are deployed for six months people get desperate. And of course men just don't admit to that kind of stuff.

I remember reading an article that cited a study of men who were deployed in any kind of all-male group effort such as a military campaign or a large construction or mining operation in a remote area where there are no women.  The study observed that men who are not otherwise homosexual when given the choice between male and female partners will often begin to engage in homosexual behavior when they are surrounded exclusively by other men.  Once they are out of the all-male situation they typically go back to a strongly heterosexual orientation (assuming that was their orientation to start with).

I remember thinking that the study's findings were really not that surprising, even though they were a little unsettling.

If the study's findings apply to even a small percentage of men, in a force the size of the U.S. military it would make sense that some of these encounters might be nonconsensual.

Like I said in a post above, I think that stuff like this has always gone on, it is just being reported more now.  It's probably also true that some of the attacks are more violent than they might have been in the past, for the same reason that all levels of sociopathic behavior seem to be getting uglier at their extremes, whether you are  school shooter, a rapist, a white collar criminal, or a terrorist.

Maybe my experience was different since I was never deployed very far from land and because there were lots of women in Southeast Asia.

Still boggles my mind.