Women Vets Criticize Fox Pundit’s ‘Breathtakingly Offensive’ Claim ...

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/02/14/425220/women-vets-criticize-liz-trotta/

Women Vets Criticize Fox Pundit’s ‘Breathtakingly Offensive’ Claim That Women Should ‘Expect’ Sexual Assault

By Ben Armbruster on Feb 14, 2012 at 12:52 pm


Responding to news that the Pentagon will formally relax rules forbidding women from serving in combat, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta said on the cable network last Sunday that the real issue is about women serving in the military more broadly. Referring to a recent report that violent sex crimes within the military have increased over the last 6 years, Trotta said women service members should “expect” sexual assault and complained about levels of bureaucracy that support women who have been “raped too much.”

Now, Trotta is facing some backlash. Kayla Williams, a former sergeant and Arabic linguist in the 101st Airborne Division who also served in Iraq, told ThinkProgress that the “level of ignorance” in Trotta’s comments is “astounding”:

Trotta’s implication that women “in close contact” with men should “expect” to be sexually assaulted is breathtakingly offensive, as is her baffling reference to women “who are now being raped too much.” Frankly, I don’t even know how to respond to someone who holds such a low opinion of those who risk their lives in defense of our country every day.

And Anu Bhagwati, Executive Director of the Service Women’s Action Network, also issued this statement, noting that Trotta’s disturbing comments are based on a series of myths about men and women serving together in the military:

It has become a desperate but popular myth among commentators recently that women’s presence in the military necessarily means they will get raped. First, the mere presence of women in the workplace does not turn men into rapists. Second, the majority of victims of military rape over time have been men. In fact, half of the Military Sexual Trauma patients being treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals today are men.

Bhagwati adds that the issue isn’t men and women serving together, it’s the “broken” U.S. military justice system which currently offers “few deterrents to rapists or the commanders who protect them. Serial predators can largely expect to enjoy full military careers without ever being punished for the violent crimes they commit.”

Media Matters reports that Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) called Trotta’s comments “shameful” and “abhorrent.” “Contrary to Trotta’s comments, being a victim of rape or sexual assault is not in the job description of a US Service Member,” Speier said.

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Bottom line: Fox News' target audience

is likely to have way more sexual predators than women vets.

Expect nothing more than the usual non-apology apology.

[sufrommich]

2. Unfortunatly, one of the requirements for being

a Fox News commentator is an inability to feel shame.

[skypilot]

3. I'm sure she's working on...

...her "clarification" as we speak.

[indepat]

4. Fox insulting and demeaning blather in speaking of corruption run amok?

[fmlymninral]

5. I went and read

what she said. what is implied in the article is not exactly what she said. she did not say women should expect to be raped she stated that the military should have expected the increase in the number of abuse cases.

[spooky3]

7. Her comments (copied below) do not say that. The "they" is unclear. And

why would anyone "expect" a 64% increase? Is the military actively recruiting criminals?

More importantly, her other comments certainly make clear that she is a misogynist who views rape as something that is the fault of people other than rapists.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201202140005

"LIZ TROTTA (Fox News contributor): Well, it's a controversy that won't be a controversy because of political correctness. But we have women once more, the feminist, going, wanting to be warriors and victims at the same time. So what is the news? The news is that the Pentagon is going to add 14,000 more jobs for women in the military, but the overall ban against serving in the infantry, in special operations units, and combat tank units, is still in place. Well, you may ask, why did 140 women die in Afghanistan and Iraq if this ban was in place? Well the whole way we wage war has changed enormously. No front lines, no clear delineation of where troops are. Women can be attached to battalions, but they can't actually be in battalions. That would get down to the real guts of how we fight wars -- and that is being a member of the infantry.

But while all of this is going on, just a few weeks ago, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta commented on a new Pentagon report on sexual abuse in the military. I think they have actually discovered there is a difference between men and women. And the sexual abuse report says that there has been, since 2006, a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults. Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact, the whole airing of this issue has never been done by Congress, it's strictly been a question of pressure from the feminist.

And the feminists have also directed them, really, to spend a lot of money. They have sexual counselors all over the place, victims' advocates, sexual response coordinators. Let me just read something to you from McClatchy Newspapers about how much this position on extreme feminism is costing us. "The budget for the Defense Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office leapt from $5 million in fiscal 2005 to more than $23 million in fiscal 2010. Total Defense Department spending on sexual assault prevention and related efforts now exceeds $113 million annually." That's from McClatchy Newspapers.

So, you have this whole bureaucracy upon bureaucracy being built up with all kinds of levels of people to support women in the military who are now being raped too much."

[ieoeja]

15. It certainly looks like "they" means the Pentagon. However, that combined with the followup is ...

... possibly worse that what is being claimed.

First, breaking down the paragraph.
1. Pentagon report.
2. "They" have discovered men and women are different. Clearly "they" refers to Pentagon or the sarcasm is even more stupid.
3. Abuse is up.
4. "They" should expect that.
5. Because those people are in close contact.

If you accept that "they" never changes meaning, e.g. it refers to the powers that be, then the FNC nutcase is saying that the military should expect women service members to be raped. Combine that with the next two paragraphs complaining about the Pentagon wasting time and money on this problem and the FNC whackjob's statement can be boiled down to:

[font size=3]We should expect women service members to be raped. And we should ignore it when it happens.[/font]

[spooky3]

21. I don't agree with you that the "they" clearly means the Pentagon. It could just as easily be

interpreted as, "well what did women expect?" Note that she immediately (after saying "they expect&quot begins talking about "these people work in close contact", which does not to me seem to refer to the Pentagon leaders. She could have had "these people", meaning enlisted women and men, in mind when asking what would they expect?

So I don't think we can say that someone is misinterpreting her to infer that she meant what was said in the OP.

But I agree with your broader point.

The problem is the speaker is as inarticulate as she is misogynist. She should expect criticism and for her words to be interpreted in ways she MAY not have intended.

[yodermon]

6. "the majority of victims of military rape over time have been men"

"In fact, half of the Military Sexual Trauma patients being treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals today are men. "

I did not know this.

[The Doctor.]

8. Nah, that's just good ole-fashioned hazing.

(Yes, that was sarcasm)

There is a vast difference between 'expecting' sexual assault and having a strategy to deal with such a possibility. This Fox 'news' twit obviously thinks of women in a very detrimental light.

Makes me wonder how she got the job.

[SemperEadem]

11. makes me wonder

how she managed to pull the female gene in the first place.

[saras]

9. "Raped too much" implies an equal and opposite "raped too little". At least they're honest.

In Fox's view, women are SUPPOSED to get raped, but not so often that it isn't fun for the rapist any more.

[SemperEadem]

10. it is astounding

that a woman would say this kind of stuff... her premise is born out of the idea that women belong in the home, barefoot and pregnant and out of sight--kinda like how it is in the Taliban run areas of Afghanistan.

Anyone who buys time on fux noose should be boycotted by all women until they publically repudiate that woman for what she said and fire her and never let her speak in any authoritative capacity anywhere.

[okieinpain]

13. what's weird to me is that she's also working in a male dominated field

so should she expect to get raped because she's in close contact with men.

[spooky3]

22. that would have been a very interesting question for an interviewer to ask her

[kemah]

14. You would think that a rapist would think twice of raping women that have been combat trained.

I was in the military and it is a very close and personal brotherhood organization. A rapist would not be able to hide when the victim shares that information with her fellow soldiers.

[The Wizard]

16. A real take down

of our military when felony rape is expected. Bring back conscription.

[Democrats_win]

17. 2008 Liz Trotta suggested assasination of OUR future president (Obama)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Trotta

On 25 May 2008, Trotta expressed on Fox News an apparent desire that presidential candidate Barack Obama be assassinated prior to the 2008 United States presidential election.[4][5][6] While speaking about Hillary Rodham Clinton's reference[7][8] to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, Trotta said:

“ ... and now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama. Um, uh, Obama. Well, both, which we could.[9] ”


Trotta apologized the next day.[10] A petition demanding that Trotta be fired was soon up on Care2 gathering over 14,000 signatures.[11][12]

In October 2011, Liz Trotta mocked the participants in Occupy Wall Street for being “people who like good weather”, and who spout “the ravings of what sounds like the Unabomber.”[13]

In February 2012, she made remarks on Fox News insinuating that women in the military should expect a higher chance of rape if women are put into combat situations. Her actual position is that the military should not fund programs in response to the 64% increase in sexual crimes.

[Fla Dem]

18. Liz Trotta is just one of a long list of RW commentators who

construe factual information to suit their agendas, spout "dog whistle" comments to rile-up their followers, and say the most ignorant, outlandish, ridiculous statements they can get away with. And they can get away with a lot because unlike the major neworks, FOX revels in the controversy they create.

[Dont call me Shirley]

19. What Liz acually meant to say was "I wish I was desirable enough for a man to have me."

"In a rough and tumble way."

[Zookeeper]

20. Liz Trotta: Do you think you would have a job at FOX without the Feminist movement?

Oooh, those evil Feminists who paved the way for your career!

"...women...want to be both warriors and victims..." I want to slap her.