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RESEARCHER STUDIES ABUSE OF MILITARY WOMEN --

"No one knows better how to care for

these vets than the VA."

 

 

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Local researcher studies abuse of military women

By Kathryn Fiegen
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Before the Persian Gulf War, some women in the military expected sexual violence to be a part of their job because of the low numbers of women in combat and the lack of knowledge in the country about sexual assault. As the country's awareness about sexual violence grew and the number of women in combat grew, women in the military stopped having that expectation, one local researcher said.

But that doesn't mean the risk isn't still there, said Anne Sadler, investigator at the VA Iowa City Health Care System's Center for Research in the Implementation of Innovative Strategies in Practice. Not only that, but because the expectation is that sexual violence among troops doesn't happen, response to it may be lacking, she said.

"Rape is a common problem in military and civilian environments," she said.

Sadler has been nationally and internationally recognized for her research through the U.S. Department of Defense about what factors put women at risk for sexual assault in the military and what the long-term health effects are of physical and sexual violence on the women who serve.

What she found was that abuse didn't happen simply because it was a mixed-gender environment, but rather as the result of things such as a ranking officer who modeled or permitted sexual violence.

"What mattered was not that they were in co-educational barracks," Sadler said.

Also, there is an additional layer of reluctance to report such events among women in the military, she said. Civilian women commonly feel embarrassment and fear of blame. Military women have those feelings, but also worry about ruining their careers or being disciplined or that reporting the event will result in nothing happening. Many may not even know how to report sexual violence, Sadler said. Training programs about how to report sexual violence are very new, she said.

Currently, Sadler and a team at the VA are researching what happens to women after they have been sexually abused in terms of seeking regular women's health services. Their ultimate goal is to draft suggestions for prevention and send them to policymakers in the Department of Defense, she said.

"They have an interest in this, they want to address this," Sadler said about the defense department.

Margaret Cretzmeyer, project coordinator on the VA study, said sexual abuse in the military is a form of workplace violence and deserves the same attention it would receive in the civilian world.

"My personal belief is that women should be able to work wherever they want without the risk of personal safety, and until we get some sunlight on this, they're not," she said.

Sadler said 1,200 veterans are about to return to the area from overseas this summer. One-quarter will be women and she encouraged all of them to come to the VA for treatment. Sadler said the VA is equipped to handle sexual abuse counseling and medical treatment, treatment for post traumatic stress disorder and just general health care.

"No one knows better how to care for these vets than the VA," she said. "Some women are afraid that the VA is a part of the military, so they have a reluctance to seek care at the VA because they think the same stigma -- that they will get blamed -- still exist here. Many women aren't aware that we offer top care here."

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Larry Scott  --