Women Soldiers Do Not Feel Protected by Pentagon

Yesterday the Pentagon released a report demonstrating that the military has improved its handling of sexual assault cases -- or so it claims. Reports of sexual assault went up 24 percent in the past year, the report shows, and more than twice as many offenders were punished.

Meanwhile, one woman who went AWOL for fear of returning to serve under her assailant was court-martialed for desertion just this past year. Army Spc. Suzanne Swift had to spend last December in prison as punishment for refusing to redeploy under the same sergeant who had sexually harassed and intimidated her.

Until the military demonstrates a true understanding of women like Swift, who have been sexually persecuted while they are trying to serve, we should all remain skeptical of its statistics.

I have been researching rape and sexual assault in the civilian world for 20 years, and in that time I have learned to regard rises in reports of sexual assault with exactly this skepticism. Like the military, police departments all over the country claim that increases in rape reports demonstrate a better rate of reporting. In fact, it is impossible to tell whether rises in rates of rape reporting reflect more reporting or more rape.

This dilemma holds true for the new Pentagon report as well. More women have been deployed to Iraq than have served in any American war before, and studies have long associated deployment with an increase in rape and assault. The 24 percent rise may reflect no more than this.

It is good news that some women, at least, find the courage to report their assaults, and that more of the accused are being punished. But we should not rush to congratulate the military, nor encourage the Pentagon to rest on its laurels. I have talked to over 30 female soldiers who served in Iraq, and all of them have described a climate highly oppressive to women: constant sexual harassment, frequent sexual threats and, often, assaults. In response to a March 7 article I wrote for Salon.com about sexual assault in the military, I have received several letters telling me of rapes. As one woman, who is not free to be named, wrote, "I'm a female soldier who served in combat in Iraq in 2004 and was sexually assaulted. The VA didn't take me seriously till I became suicidal and started cutting myself."

Helen Benedict is a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She is working on a book about women veterans of the Iraq war.