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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Feb. 20, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Editorial: Sexual abuse to the corps

There was Tailhook, where Navy pilots went on a rampage of sexual abuse. Then we heard of the widespread abuse of Army women, including rape, during basic training. Now comes the revelation that the highest-ranking Army noncom, recently appointed to a panel reviewing the Army's policies against sexual harassment, is himself accused of sexual assault.

With each new outrage it becomes ever clearer. Abominable treatment of women in the U.S. armed forces is no aberration. It's standard operating procedure.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. The Pentagon exists to oppress. The military's reason for being is to enforce the foreign policy of U.S. imperialism around the world-and sometimes, like when the struggle against racism or for union rights gets really hot, to enforce the capitalist lass's rule right here at home.

The Army-like the other armed services-is not some enlightened collective where esprit de corps means working cooperatively for the common good. At this work place, the corporate spirit is embodied in the drill chants you hear on training grounds-catchy rhythms with rhymes about killing and raping. It is also a place where those in command can send you to your death, where those on the bottom of the chain of command have few rights.

On ABC-TV's This Week show on Feb. 9, right-wing commentator George Will went so far as to suggest that all this fuss about sexual harassment threatens to undermine the military's natural right to employ unrestrained violence in war. What do the accusations show, asked Will, except that women shouldn't be in the military in the first place? Asking male soldiers to treat women as equals-asking them, in particular, to refrain from sexual harassment, assault and rape-is tantamount to asking them not to be soldiers.

All this, of course, is also linked to the brass's anti-gay policies. In fact, according to groups working with lesbian and gay service personnel, lesbian-baiting is a frequent component of sexual harassment in the military. Women are harassed and raped, then told they'll be exposed as lesbians if they report the assault.

What can women do? Appeal to the Pentagon's sense of fair play? There's no such thing. But the working-class movement can mobilize against this enemy to demand an end to sexist discrimination, harassment and violence. As with the struggle against racism and the fight to end anti-gay discrimination, the demand for equality for women in the military is a matter of democratic rights. During the Vietnam War, when millions were drafted, the demand for equality and democratic rights in the military led to the formation of a union of GIs. Among its 10 basic principles were an end to racism and sexism, and the right to refuse illegal orders. The struggle against military autocracy must be waged even as we battle to get rid of the Pentagon altogether.

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