The Culture Of Rape: In The U.S. And Its Armed Services

Rape laws in Western culture were not put in place to give women access to our legal systems.
I have to imagine things are no different in other parts of the world.
Rape laws were instituted for men who might find the need to accuse other men of grievances against
women male accusers wanted protected or sequestered.
Women were to give some testimony when told- if asked.
Rape laws have to be rewritten so that the crimes can be self-reported to someone elected to traverse
the landscapes in the widespread devastation incurred in the schema and accustomed-to functionality
of victims.
Why?
Often when women report the crime and attempt to detail the damage done them, they are expected
to prove post assault damage has occurred. Can she prove she wasn't already like what she now describes?
When a man who isn't an expert in the damages caused by assault becomes involved in these crimes, he eventually, reflexively, hears "sex" in the recounting. He remembers "sex" in the recounting.
These assaults by any other name are still violent, tremendous undoings.
Courtship has such a checkered history in this country that many people believe "quid pro quo" is a fair description for interaction between persons legally considered consenting equals. Sharing time or space, even accidentally or incidentally, means to some, that a person who may be stronger or otherwise has the upper hand, also has the justification needed to express anything at all, during any kind of contact with any person.
I knew a man once who began to shiver when I explained to him it was now against the law in Michigan to take a girl into the woods, for instance, and threaten to leave her there if she refused sexual advances- thanks to Debbie Stabenow.
He suddenly confessed to me he had once done just that; and had no idea it was not simply a mischievous act.
However, he was so visibly shaken and so verbally active, I knew somewhere deep down inside he had realized previous to this conversation that he'd done something horrendous to another human being.
But American society began in kidnap and rape.
American society didn't exist in 1618.
Before that time, so many relationships between couples seemed more transactional than intimate.
By 1619 men began to be powerful in Virginia. In time, this power spread throughout the colonies.
The sort of power these men developed wasn't noticeably healthy; and they didn't seem to notice.
As time passed, women seemed to find ways at first to adapt, and now keep safer, and when not safer,
quiet.
Since women have entered the Armed Services, more aggressive behaviors toward them in many sectors are coming to light. Forensic science helps, but is not often motivated by live victims.
If Congress wants to see fewer suicides in Vets, they had better work with Kirsten Gillibrand. No one
else seems to understand the depth and breadth of urgency needed to show certainty of need for the dependable humanity and respect all service persons must show each other.
Rapists, as well as victims, may be more prone to suicide than vets who haven't seen the worst of
betrayal in themselves and their fellow service personnel.