Feminist Looking Glass

Today is Veteran’s Day– a time  for reflection and veneration of those who’ve served in the past and those who serve presently. Supporting those who’ve served is important. But so is acknowledging and remembering the inequalities in the US Military, particularly those inequalities that lead to sexual violence and murder within the military.

Most people have never even heard of Pvt. LaVena Johnson, though her story is shocking. LaVena’s death has been swept under the rug.

She was an honors student from Missouri, who enlisted immediately upon graduation from high school. She was sent to Iraq, where she served for about 8 weeks before her death.

The Department of Defense ruled her death a suicide, claiming she killed herself in her tent–(a tent owned by KBR, Halliburton’s subsidiary). In fact, it’s the ruling that still stands, despite attempts to uncover what really happened there, and an abundance of evidence that directly contradicts the DOD’s claim. Evidence that was discovered in a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request on the autopsy report– like Pvt Johnson’s teeth had been smashed in, her nose was broken, and her genitals had been burned with acid. As Salon notes, this may have been to cover up DNA evidence of rape.

A determined few had fought to keep her story in the headlines, and to petition the House Oversight Committee to conduct an investigation into her death. So far, nothing has happened. Her name has dropped from headlines and even the blogosphere.

LaVena Johnson has not gotten justice. As a young, black woman in a military , no one was there to protect her, and posthumously she was rendered invisible and unimportant . Those who murdered her acted with impunity.

Her story may be ‘rare’ in that it ended in homicide– but sexual harassment or sexual violence in the military is NOT uncommon. Even according to the BBC, several studies funded by the Dept of Veteran Affairs found that:

30% of military women are raped while serving, 71% are sexually assaulted, and 90% are sexually harassed…The Department of Defense acknowledges the problem, estimating in its 2009 annual report on sexual assault (issued last month) that some 90% of military sexual assaults are never reported.

Jamie Leigh Jones’s story is now well-known, as the female KBR employee who was gang-raped by her coworkers– and told she could not bring a lawsuit. Sen. Franken’s amendment passed to disallow contractors “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” Still,  30 Republicans voted against this bill.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is just one area in which the military discriminates. For so many women, gay or straight, it’s not a safe environment. That does not mean women should avoid military involvement; the onus should be on those who create the dangerous environment.

Happy Veteran’s Day, and remember LaVena Johnson.

Filed under: Race/Ethnicity, Violence, Workplace Tagged: | military, veteran's day, violence against women, women in the military