Free Blind to Betrayal: Why We Fool Ourselves We Aren't Being Fooled by Jennifer Freyd, Pamela Birrell Page B

or Paterno case were themselves or have close family or friends who are victims or even perpetrators of abuse. By denying the abuse at Penn State, they help themselves remain blind. At the same time, the subsequent attention and outrage this case has inspired are a positive sign. Sexual abuse of this magnitude and its related cover-up are a common story, but rarely are charges filed, officials held accountable, or outrage expressed. The uproar at Penn State is much better than the alternative: silence.
     
    Military Sexual Trauma and Betrayal Blindness
     
    One context in which institutional betrayal has recently come to light is that of military sexual trauma.
     
    Military sexual trauma has been occurring for a long time, probably for as long as there has been war. Yet the very high prevalence of military sexual trauma and the extensive damage it causes are relatively new topics in academic trauma research. Military sexual trauma is related to institutional betrayal because, historically, the military has been so unwilling to prevent, acknowledge, or respond appropriately to reports of military sexual trauma. This has led to a great deal of silence. As Dahr Jamail reported for Al Jeezera English in December 2010:
     
Billy Capshaw was 17 when he joined the Army in 1977. After being trained as a medic he was transferred to Baumholder, Germany. His roommate, Jeffrey Dahmer, by virtue of his seniority ensured that Capshaw had no formal assignment, no mail, and no pay. Having completely isolated the young medic, Dahmer regularly sexually assaulted, raped, and tortured him.
     
Dahmer went on to become the infamous serial killer and sex offender who murdered 17 boys and men before being beaten to death by an inmate at Columbia Correction Institution in 1994.
     
Capshaw reflects back, “At that young age I didn't know how to deal with it. My commander did not believe me. Nobody helped me, even though I begged and begged and begged.”
     
The debilitating lifelong struggle Capshaw has had to face is common among survivors of military sexual assault.
     
    Dahr Jamail also noted,
     
Military sexual trauma (MST) survivor Susan Avila-Smith is director of the veteran's advocacy group Women Organizing Women. She has been serving female and scores of male clients in various stages of recovery from MST for 15 years and knows of its devastating effects up close.
     
“People cannot conceive how badly wounded these people are,” she told Al Jazeera . “Of the 3,000 I've worked with, only one is employed. Combat trauma is bad enough, but with MST it's not the enemy, it's our guys who are doing it. You're fighting your friends, your peers, people you've been told have your back. That betrayal, then the betrayal from the command is, they say, worse than the sexual assault itself.” 9.
     
    In late 2010 the Service Women's Action Network and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs for their “failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking government records documenting incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military.” The goal of the lawsuit is to “obtain the release of records on a matter of public concern, namely, the prevalence of MST within the armed services, the policies of the DOD and VA regarding MST and other related disabilities, and the nature of each agency's response to MST.”
     
    A press release issued by the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) noted:
     
“The government's refusal to even take the first step of providing comprehensive and accurate information about the sexual trauma inflicted upon our women and men in uniform, and the treatment and benefits MST survivors receive after service, is all too telling,” said Anuradha Bhagwati, a former Marine captain and Executive Director of SWAN. “The DOD and VA should put the interests of service