Abstract
The following chapter will highlight the important issues unique to military service members and illustrate how the culture of the military can increase the potential for re-victimization and perpetuate trauma symptoms, when compared to a civilian victim. These differences exist not in the crime itself but the aftermath of recovery. Judith Herman’s theory of trauma, and therapy, will scaffold the second half of the discussion with a focus on neural integration following a sexual victimization.
“In a rape culture victim blaming is commonplace and those who have been raped suffer some sort of community rejection and punishment. Women are seen as inferior and deserving of the violence perpetrated against them causing an additional victimization or ‘second rape.’ The response to rape and treatment of victims triggered by rape culture is widespread. Rape culture must be understood as a key component of the suffering endured by the rape victim; thus the destruction to a rape victim’s spiritual health occurs across cultural boundaries.”(Messina-Dysert, 2012, p. 121)
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Zaleski, K. (2015). Trauma and Recovery Within Military Culture. In: Understanding and Treating Military Sexual Trauma. Focus on Sexuality Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16607-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16607-0_3
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