Military Just Another in a Long Line of Victim Blamers

Bethany Smith was walking in a mall with her girlfriend, probably enjoying her time off, when she was spotted by a co-worker. Since that time, she has been bombarded with anonymous threats and physically assaulted. Smith tried to seek protection for her boss, but to no avail. This is because her boss is Uncle Sam, and he seems to have a problem with women holding hands with other women if they are going to be so damn open about it.

Smith attempted to seek a discharge from the military under Former President Clinton's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy -- the failing policy that to this day is still only half applied, since the "Don't Harass, Don't Pursue" portion seems to be discretionary -- but was told that the paperwork wouldn't be finished until she returned from her impending deployment to Afghanistan. Her Chain of Command has not only failed to do anything about the harassment, but has actually worsened the problem, giving her additional work and singling her out at times.

After being bullied, abused, and finally threatened with danger to her life, Smith fled from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, feeling she had no other recourse. Afraid that she wouldn't survive a deployment with her harassers around her, she ran to Canada, and begged for asylum.

Her fears make sense. We know that a woman is more likely to be harmed by those she serves with than by enemy fire, and we know that violence against people based on sexual orientation is about sixteen percent of all hate crimes. And her Chain of Command was reprehensible in ignoring, or even fostering, the violent environment in which she lived. We have seen violent deaths of service members suspected of being gay in the past. One occurred right in Ft. Campbell -- a crime that could have been prevented if NCOs and Chains of Command has stepped in and applied the other half of DADT, the part that is supposed to promote a cohesive environment for all servicemembers.

But instead of trying to hold responsible those who are using hate speech and violent threats responsible, the military is wasting resources to attempt to extradite Bethany Smith back from Canada into that hostile environment.

This is in line with America's consistent culture of victim blaming. We punish a teenage girl for sending a topless picture of herself to a boy, but not the students who forwarded it publicly without her permission, or who bullied and slut shamed her to the point that she committed suicide. We click our tongues and wring our hands when kids kill themselves for being bullied for being gay, or question the mental health of a young girl who committed suicide after she was tormented by an adult posing as a teen boy on MySpace. We see advice columnists blame a woman for her own rape because she was drinking. We fail to place the blame on the people inflicting harm. In Bethany Smith's case, she volunteered to join the military knowing she was a lesbian, so I guess she was asking to have her life threatened, huh? It's clearly her own fault!

So, the military will chase her, and she will be the public spectacle who the world will criticize, I am sure. I can already hear the cries of deserter, and how she just doesn't want to go to war. What I probably won't hear is that the people who made her feel unsafe in her living quarters and in her job were held accountable for their actions. I won't hold my breath, because I know this is just par for the course.

Photo courtesy of !anaughty!'s Flickr photostream.