Female Veterans are Treated Differently
Recently a civilian clinician contacted me about a client she was working with. Sue had finally sought out counseling after 20 years of living with her sexual assault while serving 4 years on active duty in the Army. Sue was tired of hiding her assault from her husband and wanted help to deal with the betrayal of her superiors while she was in the Army. Sue’s husbands started questioning her because of the Military Sexual Trauma (MST) in the news. Sue had been raped by her Lieutenant (LT) and given extra duty for having the gall to report it to her Commanding officer (CO). She was treated as a liar and grilled by the investigator, who was her CO. She was forced to re-live her rape and nothing ever happened to the LT. Her assault was swept under the rug, and the LT went on to become a Major, probably assaulting more females. Word got out of her “betrayal” and male soldiers started treating her with discontent because they felt she could not be trusted. Her civilian clinician was set aback and could not understand how this could happen in a culture like the military where everyone “follows orders”. Unfortunately this type of behavior and sexual assault is common in the military, worse than we as a society want to believe.
During the consultation with the civilian clinician I told her that I have yet to meet a female veteran that has not, at a minimum, been sexually harassed while in. With the recent interest in MST allot of female veterans struggle because it brings up old wounds and questions by their family members. Many female veterans have flashbacks of their trauma causing them to re-live the horrors of their time in. The clinician went on to tell more of the story, and it sounded all too familiar. In many cases the way females are looked at and treated continue after their separation from the service.
I met a female veteran at a MST training who was livid that MST has only come to light in recent years because men have started coming forward about being sexually assaulted. She stated “it did not matter about MST until men started coming forward, now it has become a big deal”. Women feel it has only become legitimate when men started coming forward about their MST, in reality it looks that way.
Women feel they are widely ignored by the Veterans Administration (VA). This was verified when Susan, a female veteran I know went to the VA medical center for services. At the desk she was asked for her husband’s social security number and told they generally don’t treat spouses. When she corrected the VA employee he said OK, how can I help you? This might sound small, but it is offensive to any veteran and would not happen to a male veteran. Women are not seen as military veterans, they are seen as spouses by society and even the VA at times. This is not an isolated incident, another female friend went to the vet center and was told by the lead clinician to stop being an angry Latino woman and deal with her situation. This type of sexist remark would never happen to a male veteran.
Allot of female veterans won’t tell anyone they were in. They stay quiet because they are looked at differently by civilian men who did not serve. Some of these men seem to be embarrassed that a woman served and they didn’t, female civilians don’t understand why a woman would join the military, that’s a man’s job. When they do talk about their time in, usually to other veterans, they feel they are partially a part of the good ‘ol boys club, but are only allowed one foot in, they are received skeptically by many male veterans.
Information released in 2010 from the California department of veteran affairs shows that female veterans are the fasted growing sub-population with a median age of 46 and a population of 1.8 million. A female in the military is more likely to be raped than killed, this causes an increased risk of suicide for female vets between ages of 18-34 because of sexual trauma. Of those females in the military 55% were sexually assaulted opposed to 24% of civilian females. Those women vets who have experienced MST (and torture) are more likely to develop PTSD. Every veteran who has symptoms of MST is eligible for treatment at the VA. No matter the length of service. Some VA’s have opened a women’s clinic for our female veterans and according to my female veteran friends they are doing a good job. Our society needs to give these veterans the respect they have earned. Male veterans need to treat our sisters as one of us with respect. Female Veterans deserve to be treated equally by everyone, especially male veterans and the VA.
For questions or comments, I can be reached at bo@afterdutyvets.com or visit our website at afterdutyvets.com.