A Rhetoric of Betrayal: Military Sexual Trauma and the Reported Experiences of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Women Veterans

Abstract

The primary objective of this pilot study was to understand the military experiences of OEF/OIF women veterans. Seven women veterans described accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault, also known in the Veteran Health Administration (VHA) context as Military Sexual Trauma (MST). The prevalence and dialogue of MST both explicitly and implicitly throughout all the interviews justified examining MST on its own. As an alternative to tracking new cases of MST, this thesis provides an examination of the rhetoric of betrayal and suggests that objective knowledge of MST does not exist apart from such social conditions and one’s interpretations of them. Betrayal emerged as the way in which women veterans understood and made meaning of their MST experiences during the claims-making process. Women veterans incorporated strategies to manage the sexual harassment and sexual assault they experienced while in the military environment, since reporting MST was actively discouraged. Findings from this study suggest that the way we approach and understand MST as a social problem needs to be reconsidered and further examined.