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Description
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is one of the most pressing health concerns for women in the military. MST refers to the rape, sexual assault, or threatening sexual harassment of an active duty servicemember perpetrated by another member of the military. Many MST survivors feel constrained from speaking out about their trauma, in part, due to the secondary victimization that often results from the reporting process. The Department of Defense estimates that 19.000 active duty members of the military were sexual assaulted in 2010 while only 3,158 reports were filed. After MST, survivors must negotiate a complicated web of communicative interactions with peers, superiors, and military medical personnel. The Internet provides a space for MST survivors to share their narratives with one another, provide support, and advocate for the reform of military policies. Using a generative rhetorical approach, this research examines forms of communication that facilitate and constrain the voices of Military Sexual Trauma survivors in online narratives of MST. This research uncovered forms of communication utilized by the (a) peer network, (b) authority network, and (c) medical network that facilitated and constrained the voices of MST survivors. Communication in each network is not contained, rather the networks often inform, discipline, and contradict one another. Three models that visually represent how the networks of communication interact and can lead survivors to a place of empowerment or disempowerment are proposed. While a culture of silence is established in the military through the use of rhetorical framing devices, this research suggests that counter narratives are powerful tools for breaking silence and advocating for change. Ultimately, this research advocates for a great awareness of the communicative barriers MST survivors must negotiate after an experience of trauma and how communicative strategies have the capacity to break down those barriers
