Our sexually assaulted and raped soldiers--collateral damage

Recently, AlterNet ran a couple of features about the chronic sexual harrassment, sexual assaults and rapes of U.S. soldiers by U.S. soldiers. Here are what two readers had to say:

War itself makes men very aggressive physically and sexually. I think it is this that is putting female soldiers at risk. Unfortunately, much of this was argued by experienced soldiers prior to the mixing of the sexes in units, but it was dismissed as sexism. I don't think it was sexism: it was an honest account of how the behavior of young men in a war environment, despite the best checks and balances of the military hierarchy, are still difficult to control. Think about it: horny guys with guns, horny guys, who after having a few friends killed and maimed, don't care a toss about the military hierarchy or what feminists think. It is that brutal on the frontlines....

The military tries to bring some creature comforts from back home to the war zone. So you have people getting into their bathing suits (and women into skimpy bikinis) and dipping in inflatable pools. In fact, the chicks are usually out on the grass sunbathing when they aren't working. So the guys have a very clear idea of what they look like -- and keep in mind these are women who are in top physical condition.

Like that? Here's another:

[to]...put a person in an environment where there are no safety valves and the reality is aggression at its most elemental and life-threatening, then it is an exercise in futility to even think that there will not be overt sexual acts, especially if an exposed female body is in close proximity.... To introduce females into combat or intense military situations just seems to be pushing the envelope.

Fortunately, there were several other readers who took these two to task. But the idea that men are going to force women to have sex because they are all aggressive and cannot help themselves is not only horribly misogynistic and demeaning of men, but also conveniently ignorant of the number one fact about rape: It is not a sexual act, but an act of control. Yes, male soldiers may make unwanted advances on female soldiers because of war stress (or because they made unwanted advances on women before they ever joined the military), but raping women is about hostility, not sex.