Veterans for Peace | PRESS RELEASE

What: PRESS CONFERENCE and Action for Rape in the Military Awareness Week

When: 10:30am, Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Where: In front of the Armed Forces Recruiting Station, Times Square, Broadway and 42nd, New York City, NY

For further information call:

• Ann Wright, event coordinator, 808-741-1141;
• Michael McPherson, Executive Director of Veterans for Peace, 314-303-8874
• Mike Ferner, National President, Veterans for Peace, 419-360-3621
• Leah Bolger, National Vice-President of Veterans for Peace, 541-207-7761
• Sandy Kelson, National Rape Awareness week coordinator, 814-382-4887

Participants:

• Ann Wright, Colonel, 29 year veteran of the US Army and US Army Reserves
• Leah Bolger, retired US Navy Commander and National Vice President of Veterans for Peace
• Sandra Lee, US Army soldier survivor of sexually assault while in the military
• Eve Ensler, author and playwright of the Vagina Monologues and V-Day

Due to the incredible epidemic of rape in the military in which 1 in 3 women in the military have been raped or sexually assaulted, Veterans for Peace, a national veterans organization has designated October 12-16 as “Military Rape Awareness Week.” .

VFP chapters will have actions during that week at Armed Forces Recruiting stations around the country to demand that military recruiters alert women who are thinking about joining the military about the high possibility they will be raped while in the controlled, highly disciplined military environment.

Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright said, “It is a responsibility of us as veterans to warn young women that according to Veterans Administration studies, one in three women are sexually assaulted or raped while they are in the military.”

On Tuesday, October 13 at 10:30am members of Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans against the War, Granny Peace Brigade, Codepink: Women for Peace, World Can’t Wait, Artists Response Team and We will not be Silent will warn potential women recruits at the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Times Square about the alarming rates of sexual assault and rape of women in the military. Several victims of military rape may speak.

Following the press conference, members of Veterans for Peace and other organizations will warn women thinking about joining the military by plastering the windows of the recruiting station with stickers that state: "1 in 3 women are raped while in the military.

Background:

Sexual assault and rape of women and men in the US military increased so dramatically during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that in 2005 then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld formed a task force on sexual assault—however, the task force did not meet until 2008.

Nearly one-third of a nationwide sample of women veterans who sought health care through the Veterans Administration said they experience rape or attempted rape during their service. Of that group, 37 percent said they were raped multiple times and 14 percent reported they were gang-raped. Department of Defense has been reluctant to release statistics on sexual assault of men in the military, but anecdotal evidence indicates that the statistics are alarmingly high.

Over the past 10 years, more than 700 US Army Recruiters have been accused of sexual misconduct or rape.

60 years of US military studies and task forces since women began entering the military in larger numbers have not lessened the incidents of assault and rape.

We call on the Department of Defense and the US Military Recruiting Commands and the Military Entrance Processing Stations to formally notify women and men of the statistics on the incidence of the criminal acts of sexual assault and rape of women and men in the military committed by fellow members of the military, many in their chains of command.

References:

“Factors Associated With Women’s Risk of Rape in the Military Environment” AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE 43:262–273 (2003),

Veterans for Peace Sexual Assault and Rape Response Resource Page

Helen Benedict, The Lonely Soldier, The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq,” Beacon Press, 2009

Ann Wright, “Sexual Assault in the Military: A DoD Cover-Up?”, Truthdig, August 1, 2008

Ann Wright, “Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?”, Commondreams, April 28, 2008.

Aimee Allison, "Recruiter Sexual Abuse: Friendly Fire at Home?" AlterNet, July 24, 2007.

Bryan Bender, "Pentagon Acts to crack Down on Recruiter Misconduct," Boston Globe, March 19, 2007.

Sara Corbett, "The Women’s War," New York Times Sunday Magazine, March 18, 2007.

Amy Goodman, "The Private War of Women Soldiers: Female Vet, Soldier Speak Out on Rising Sexual Assault Within US Military," DemocracyNow.org, March 8, 2007.

Helen Benedict, "The Private War of Women Soldiers," Salon.com, March 7, 2007.

Martha Mendoza, "Sexual abuse by Military Recruiters," CBS News and the Associated Press, August 19, 2006.

Rose Aguilar, "Female Soldiers Treated 'Lower Than Dirt'," AlterNet.com, July 14, 2006.

Ruth Rosen, "A Wave of Sexual Terrorism in Iraq," AlterNet, July 14, 2006.

Marjorie Cohn, "Military Hides Cause of Women Soldiers’ Deaths," Truthout.org, January 30, 2006.

Damien Cave, "U.S. Army Recruiters to Get a Day of Ethics Retraining," New York Times, May 13, 2005.

Suzanne Goldenberg, "I Reported the Rape, the Watched My Career Implode," Salon.com, October 25, 2004.

R.Jeffery Smith, "Sexual Assaults in Army on Rise," Washington Post, June 3, 2004.

Cathy Hong, "When Will the U.S. Military Tackle the Problem of Sexual Assault?" Salon.com, May 18, 2004.