Gendered Armed Forces

Not that the Canadian forces stand out differently, more dangerous to its female recruits than those of other countries of the world. It is highly doubtful that proximity between males and females in the Canadian Armed Forces results in a higher rate of sexual impropriety and unwanted attention among Canadians enlisted than elsewhere in the world. There are horrific stories that have come out of the United States regarding ranking officers, let alone ordinary recruits exploiting and abusing the females in their presence.

But one could also say that however relatively few sexual assaults and harassment occurs in the Forces, they are completely unacceptable. Their occurrences extend beyond merely 'unacceptable'; they are odiously offensive. The very thought that male recruits in the Armed Forces view their female counterparts as fair game for predation is atrocious. Both genders in a national army that prides itself on its professionalism are meant to be respectful of one another, as an extension of a professional code of conduct.

On the other hand, all societies have their share of sociopaths and there is no reason to imagine that the Armed Forces of any country hasn't its component of maladjusted males who feel it is appropriate to their personal needs and imperatives to assault women in uniform. They are present, and presumably available, and are seen as a convenient target. A situation horrible even to contemplate and which everyone deplores, but seemingly unavoidable.

There are rules and regulations that stipulate senior officers may not engage in personal intimate relations with any of their staff. And those rules are taken seriously, even when the relationship that might emerge would be consensual. Other rules insist that even married couples may not share accommodation while on active duty. Obviously it is well enough recognized by the Armed Forces community that sex and duty do not mesh.

So when individuals take it upon themselves to flaunt the rules under the impression that they apply to others, and mount aggressive and sometimes violent attacks on women in uniform whatever discipline that can be applied cannot be too harsh. Captain Nichola Goddard, in writing to her husband of the sexual innuendos and pursuits she and others endured while on duty, a case in point.

That she became a symbol of Canada's commitment to aiding Afghanistan in combatting fanatical Islamists and died as a result, of a Taliban-emplaced IED, only increases the wretchedness of her experience, exponentially. When a high-ranking officer is peremptorily returned to headquarters when news of a dalliance surfaces, this is one unfortunate by-product of mingling men and women in situations of remote postings.

And when a ranking officer who has gained the trust of his superiors and who has the well-being and supervision of thousands of personnel at his command while he engages in the pursuit of fulfilling his violent fantasies of controlling, raping and murdering women, the depths of moral depravity have been plumbed.