(NY Times, registration required) Women Recount Cadet Life: Forced Sex and Fear: ..... "During the school year, you talk to people it has happened to, even upperclassmen, and they all say the same thing," Ms. Fullilove, 23, said in an interview here, where she is attending the University of Arizona. "They tell you to expect getting raped, and if it doesn't happen to you, you're one of the rare ones. They say if you want a chance to stay here, if you want to graduate, you don't tell. You just deal with it."
A sad commentary on the academy, when the women are told that this is just the way things are, and that they should expect it.
What I really wonder is, if things are this bad at Air Force, what's being hidden in the files at West Point and Annapolis? There's no intrinsic reason that things should be any different at the others.
Mr. Roche said in an interview today that perceptions of Ms. Fullilove and other women who are victims "just sicken me," asserting that the Air Force was ill-served by an academy culture that would appear to condone aggressive behavior by men, leaving women to feel intimidated, inferior and overwhelmed. Changing that culture, he said, is the focus of the current investigation.
Well ... the investigation may well be a starting place. But in and of itself, it can't change anything. And frankly, it's not as if it will seriously tell them anything that they don't really know, aside from sheer numbers.
Posted by iain at March 16, 2003 09:43 PMComments
