Militaries

Experiences of Trauma, Discrimination, Microaggressions, and Minority Stress among Trauma-Exposed LGBT Veterans: Unexpected Findings and Unresolved Service Gaps

Citation:

Livingston, Nicholas A., Danielle S. Berke, Mollie A. Ruben, Alexis R. Matza, and Jillian C. Shipherd. 2019. "Experiences of Trauma, Discrimination, Microaggressions, and Minority Stress among Trauma-Exposed LGBT Veterans: Unexpected Findings and Unresolved Service Gaps." Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy 11 (7): 695-703.

Authors: Nicholas A. Livingston, Danielle S. Berke, Mollie A. Ruben, Alexis R. Matza, Jillian C. Shipherd

Abstract:

Objective: LGBT veterans experience high rates of trauma, discrimination, and minority stress. However, guidelines for case conceptualization and treatment remain limited. The aim of the current study was to examine the experiences of trauma and other high impact experiences among LGBT veterans to inform case conceptualization and treatment.
 
Method: We recruited 47 LGBT veterans with a history of exposure to LGBT-related Criterion A trauma and performed semistructured interviews about their experiences in trauma treatment, barriers to engagement, and treatment needs and preferences. We used thematic analysis of qualitative codes guided by inductive and deductive approaches to characterize the variety of trauma and high impact experiences reported.
 
Results: LGBT veterans disclosed a range of clinically relevant stressors, including Criterion A traumatic events, minority stress, and microaggression experiences, including interpersonal and institutional discrimination perpetrated by fellow service members/veterans, citizens, therapy group members, and health care providers.
 
Conclusion: These data provide a unique account of LGBT veteran's identity-related trauma and concomitant interpersonal and institutional discrimination, microaggression experiences, minority stress, and traumatic stress symptoms. Findings highlight existing service gaps regarding evidence-based treatments for the sequalae of trauma, discrimination, microaggressions, and minority stress. In addition, we noted past and present issues in military and health care settings that may lead to or exacerbate trauma-related distress and discourage treatment seeking among LGBT veterans. We provide suggestions for clinical work with LGBT veterans and encourage ongoing research and development to eliminate remaining service gaps. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Topics: Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2019

Addressing the Needs of Transgender Military Veterans: Better Access and More Comprehensive Care

Citation:

Dietert, Michelle, Dianne Dentice, and Zander Keig. 2017. "Addressing the Needs of Transgender Military Veterans: Better Access and More Comprehensive Care." Transgender Health 2 (1): 35-44.

Authors: Michelle Dietert, Dianne Dentice, Zander Keig

Abstract:

Purpose: There is a gap in social science literature addressing issues of access and quality of care for transgender military veterans. Psychologists, medical doctors, and other health professionals are beginning to address some of the barriers present in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system that affect veterans who are also transgender and intersex. Over a 7-year period, between 2006 and 2013, 2600 transgender veterans were served by the VA. Data from several surveys revealed that most transgender veterans perceive the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to be less than accommodating for their special needs. The goal of this study was to investigate the experiences of a sample of transgender veterans with regard to their experiences with healthcare services provided by the VHA.
 
Methods: Using snowball sampling techniques, we were able to recruit 22 transgender military veterans to participate in our study. A combination of telephone interviews and questionnaires provided data from veterans in various branches of the military throughout the United States.
 
Results: Findings indicate that even though the VHA is working to address issues of inequality for transgender veterans, our participants indicated that there are still some problems with administration of care, proper training of staff and physicians, and availability of comprehensive services for the unique healthcare needs of transgender individuals.
 
Conclusion: Since our data were collected, the VA has worked to bridge the gap by focusing on increased training for VHA providers and staff and establishing LGBT programs at VA facilities. However, we suggest that one key area of importance should continue to focus on how mental health and medical providers and ancillary staff are trained to interact with and provide care for their transgender patients.

Keywords: gender identity discrimination, Transgender, U.S. military, Veterans Health Administration

Topics: Gender, Health, Mental Health, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Post-Conflict Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2017

Gender Dysphoria in the Military

Citation:

Ford, Shannon, and Carla Schnitzlein. 2017. "Gender Dysphoria in the Military." Current Psychiatry Reports 19 (12): 102.

Authors: Shannon Ford, Carla Schnitzlein

Abstract:

Purpose of Review: With the announcement that members of the military who identify as transgender are allowed to serve openly, the need for Department of Defense behavioral health providers to be comfortable in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of this population becomes quickly evident. This population has been seeking care in the community and standards have been developed to help guide decision-making, but a comparable document does not exist for the military population.
 
Recent Findings: Previously published papers were written in anticipation of the policy allowing for open service. The civilian sector has treatment guidelines and evidence supporting the same for reference. There is no similar document for the military population, likely due to the recent change and ongoing development. This paper attempts to provide an overview of the recent Department of Defense policy and walks the reader through key considerations when providing care to a transgender member of the military as it relates to those who are currently serving in the military through the use of a case example.
 
Summary: The military transgender population faces some unique challenges due to the need to balance readiness and deployability with medically necessary health care. Also complicating patient care is that policy development is ongoing—as of this publication, the decision has not yet been made regarding how people who identify as transgender will access into the military nor is there final approval regarding coverage for surgical procedures. Unique circumstances of this population are brought up to generate more discussion and encourage further evaluation and refinement of the process.

Keywords: Transgender, gender dysphoria, military, veteran, LGBT, mental health, open service

Topics: Gender, Health, Mental Health, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2017

Experiences of Sexual Harassment, Stalking, and Sexual Assault during Military Service among LGBT and Non‐LGBT Service Members

Citation:

Schuyler, Ashley, Cary Klemmer, Mary Rose Mamey, Sheree M. Schrager, Jeremy T. Goldbach, Ian W. Holloway, and Carl Andrew Castro. 2020. "Experiences of Sexual Harassment, Stalking, and Sexual Assault during Military Service among LGBT and Non‐LGBT Service Members." Journal of Traumatic Stress 33 (3): 257-66.

Authors: Ashley Schuyler, Cary Klemmer, Mary Rose Mamey, Sheree M. Schrager, Jeremy T. Goldbach, Ian W. Holloway, Carl Andrew Castro

Abstract:

Sexual victimization, including sexual harassment and assault, remains a persistent problem in the U.S. military. Service members identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) may face enhanced risk, but existing research is limited. We examined experiences of sexual harassment, stalking, and sexual assault victimization during service in a sample of LGBT and non‐LGBT active duty service members. Service members who identified as LGBT (n = 227 LGB, n = 56 transgender) or non‐LGBT (n = 276) were recruited using respondent‐driven sampling for an online survey. Logistic regression models examined the correlates of sexual and stalking victimization. Victimization was common among LGBT service members, including sexual harassment (80.7% LGB, 83.9% transgender), stalking (38.6% LGB, 30.4% transgender), and sexual assault (25.7% LGB, 30.4% transgender). In multivariable models, LGB identity remained a significant predictor of sexual harassment, OR = 4.14, 95% CI [2.21, 7.78]; stalking, OR = 1.98, 95% CI [1.27, 3.11]; and assault, OR = 2.07, 95% CI [1.25, 3.41]. A significant interaction between LGB identity and sex at birth, OR = 0.34, 95% CI [0.13, 0.88], suggests an elevated sexual harassment risk among male, but not female, LGB service members. Transgender identity predicted sexual harassment and assault at the bivariate level only. These findings suggest that LGBT service members remain at an elevated risk of sexual and/or stalking victimization. As the military works toward more integration and acceptance of LGBT service members, insight into victimization experiences can inform tailored research and intervention approaches aimed at prevention and care for victims.

Topics: Gender, Health, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality, Sexual Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2020

Gendering Military Sacrifice: A Feminist Comparative Analysis

Citation:

Åse, Cecilia, and Maria Wendt, eds. 2019. Gendering Military Sacrifice: A Feminist Comparative Analysis. London: Routledge.

Authors: Cecilia Åse, Maria Wendt

Annotation:

Summary:
This book offers a feminist analysis of military sacrifice and reveals the importance of a gender perspective in understanding the idea of honourable death.
 
In present-day security discourses, traditional masculinised obligations to die for the homeland and its women and children are challenged and renegotiated. Working from a critical feminist perspective, this book examines the political and societal justifications for sacrifice in wars motivated by human rights and an international responsibility to protect. With original empirical research from six European countries, the volume demonstrates how gendered and nationalistic representations saturate contemporary notions of sacrifice and legitimate military violence. A key argument is that a gender perspective is necessary in order to understand, and to oppose, the idea of the honourable military death. Bringing together a wide range of materials – including public debates, rituals, monuments and artwork – to analyse the justifications for soldiers’ deaths in the Afghanistan war (2002–14), the analysis challenges methodological nationalism. The authors develop a feminist comparative methodology and engage in cross-country and transdisciplinary analysis. This innovative approach generates new understandings of the ways in which both the idealisation and the political contestation of military violence depend on gendered national narratives.
 
This book will be of much interest to students of gender studies, critical military studies, security studies and International Relations. (Summary from Taylor & Francis)
 
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
Cecilia Åse
 
2. Comparison as Feminist Method
Cecilia Åse and Maria Wendt
 
3. The Politics of War Rituals
Maria Wendt
 
4. The New National War Monuments
Vron Ware
 
5. Artistic Interventions
Redi Koobak
 
6. Debating Deaths
Hanne Martinek
 
7. Gendered Grief
Cecilia Åse, Monica Quirico, and Maria Wendt
 
8. Conclusion
Cecilia Åse and Maria Wendt

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Nationalism, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2019

Legitimizing Military Action through “Rape-as-a-Weapon” Discourse in Libya: Critical Feminist Analysis

Citation:

Kolmasova, Sarka, and Katerina Krulisova. 2019. "Legitimizing Military Action through “Rape-as-a-Weapon” Discourse in Libya: Critical Feminist Analysis." Politics & Gender 15 (1): 130-50.

Authors: Sarka Kolmasova, Katerina Krulisova

Abstract:

Contemporary discourse on sexual(ized) violence in armed conflicts represents a powerful source for legitimization of highly controversial military interventions. Recent gender-responsive security studies have called for enhanced protection of women and girls from widespread and systematic sexual(ized) violence. Yet military operations reproduce the Western masculine hegemony rather than providing inclusive and apolitical assistance to victims of sexual assault. The article aims to critically assess discourse on sexual violence in a case of military intervention in Libya initiated under the rubric of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). The case study indicates a set of discursive strategies exercised by Western political representatives and nongovernmental organizations and even more expressively by the media to legitimize the military campaign. Typically, sexual(ized) violence is presented as a weapon of war, used by one of the conflicting parties without an adequate response of the state. This is followed by urgent calls for international action, willingly carried out by Western powers. The simplified narrative of civilized protectors versus savage aggressors must be challenged as it exploits the problem of sexual(ized) violence in order to legitimize politically motivated actions.

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Media, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, NGOs, Sexual Violence, Rape, Weapons /Arms Regions: Africa, MENA, North Africa Countries: Libya

Year: 2019

Many Shades of Green: Assessing Awareness of Differences in Mental Health Care Needs among Subpopulations of Military Veterans

Citation:

Ahlin, Eileen M., and Anne S. Douds. 2018. "Many Shades of Green: Assessing Awareness of Differences in Mental Health Care Needs among Subpopulations of Military Veterans." International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 62 (10): 3168-84.

Authors: Eileen M. Ahlin, Anne S. Douds

Abstract:

The current study sought to examine access to services by various veteran subgroups: racial/ethnic minorities, females, rural populations, and LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer). Generally, the Veteran Service Officers (VSOs) interviewed for this study did not feel that these subgroups were well served by the program and treatment options presently available, and that other groups such as males and urban veterans received better access to necessary psychosocial and medical care. This research extends studies that explore overall connection to services by further demonstrating barriers to receipt of services by specific subgroups of veterans, particularly those at risk for involvement in the criminal justice system.

Keywords: veterans, mental health care, minority populations, LGBTQ, rural veterans

Topics: Ethnicity, Gender, Health, Mental Health, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Race Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2018

“Different Than an Infantry Unit Down in Georgia”: Narratives of Queer Liberation in the Post-DADT Military

Citation:

Connell, Catherine. 2018. "“Different Than an Infantry Unit Down in Georgia”: Narratives of Queer Liberation in the Post-DADT Military." Sexualities 21 (5-6): 776-92.

Author: Catherine Connell

Abstract:

More than five years out from its implementation, we still know relatively little about how members of the US military and its ancillary institutions are responding to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Contrary to what one might expect given the long history of LGBTQ antipathy in the military, I found in interviews with Boston area Reserve Officer Training Core (ROTC) cadets unanimous approval for the repeal of DADT. When pressed to explain why there was so much homogeneity of favorable opinion regarding the repeal, interviewees repeatedly offered the same explanation: that Boston, in particular, is such a progressive place that even more conservative institutions like the ROTC are spared anti-gay sentiment. They imagined the Southern and/or rural soldier they will soon encounter when they enter the US military, one who represents the traditionally homophobic attitudes of the old military in contrast to their more enlightened selves. This ‘‘metronormative’’ narrative has been critiqued elsewhere as inadequate for understanding the relationship between sexuality and place; this article contributes to that critique by taking a new approach. Rather than deconstruct narratives of queer rurality, as the majority of metronormativity scholarship has done, I deconstruct these narratives of urban queer liberation. I find that such narratives mask the murkier realities of LGBTQ attitudes in urban contexts and allow residents like the ROTC cadets in this study to displace blame about anti-gay prejudice to a distant Other, outside of their own ranks.

Keywords: LGBTQ, metronormativity, military, rural, urban

Topics: Gender, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2018

The Art of Being Unseen: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Alienation as Told through the Lived Experiences of LGBTQ U.S. Military Service Members Who Served before and during the DADT Repeal

Citation:

Walker, Shnecia Lenise. 2019. “The Art of Being Unseen: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Alienation as Told through the Lived Experiences of LGBTQ U.S. Military Service Members Who Served before and during the DADT Repeal.” EdD diss., Drexel University.

Author: Shnecia Lenise Walker

Abstract:

For many years, mastering the art of being unseen been a practice for countless LGBTQ military personnel in order to avoid harassment, violence, and expulsion from the U.S. Armed Forces. Prior research on LGBTQ military personnel who served both before and after the repeal of DADT has documented their multifaceted experiences (Alford & Lee, 2016; Allsep, 2013; Gatson, 2015; Goldbach & Castro, 2016; Mondragon, 2013; Parco, Levy, & Spears, 2014; Quam, 2015; Spinks, 2015; Vaughn, 2014). While several studies identified the participants’ experiences of alienation, these studies were largely exploratory and did not investigate or interrogate alienation with any depth or rigor. Drawing on Seeman’s (1975) six variants of alienation, this dissertation explores the phenomenon of alienation as experienced by LGBTQ military personnel. Understanding their experiences of alienation may help to inform and improve military policies and procedures intended to ensure their full integration into the U.S. Armed Forces. This research study utilized a phenomenological approach to explore alienation as lived and experienced by five LGBTQ military personnel during both the enactment and repeal of DADT. Participants were recruited from private and closed military and veteran LGBTQ partnering support groups and organizations located online. Of the five participants, three identified as lesbian, one identified as gay and/or homosexual and the fifth participant identified as queer. Analysis of the data resulted in three themes: 1) experiences with coming out; 2) a climate of oppression; and 3) alienation. This research study includes four major findings: 1) three of the five participants identified themselves as being in the identity acceptance stage the first time that they disclosed their sexual orientation; 2) participants described military culture as oppressive to LGBTQ military personnel both before and after the repeal of DADT; 3) of Seeman’s six variants of alienation, cultural estrangement was the most prominent variant described by the participants; and 4) in addition to Seeman’s six variants of alienation, participants exhibited a resilient variant of alienation in the form of self-preservation. Findings from this study inform both practice and future research. In addition, the study identifies the need for further exploration of the lived experiences of transgender military persons.

Keywords: alienation, diversity, Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT), isolation, LGBTQ, military

Topics: Gender, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality, Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2019

The Body Weaponized: War, Sexual Violence and the Uncanny

Citation:

Kirby, Paul. 2020. "The Body Weaponized: War, Sexual Violence and the Uncanny." Security Dialogue 51 (2-3): 211-30.

Author: Paul Kirby

Abstract:

It is today common to argue that rape is a weapon, tool or instrument of warfare. One implication is that armed groups marshal body parts for tactical and strategic ends. In this article, I interrogate this discourse of embodied mobilization to explore how body weaponry has been made intelligible as a medium for sexual violence. First, I show that, despite wide rejection of essentialist models, the penis and penis substitutes continue to occupy a constitutive role in discussions of sexual violence in both political and academic fora, where they are often said to be like weapons, a tendency I term ‘weapon talk’. Second, I trace the image of the body weapon in key threads of feminist theorizing and commentary, to show how the penis has appeared as a ‘basic weapon of force’ in various permutations. Third, I explore the weaponization of the body as it appears in military thought and in the cultural circulation of ideas about the soldiering body in which sexual pleasure and violence are frequently conflated. Building on this foundation, I propose that these literatures collectively describe an uncanny weapon object, and I draw out the significance of this term for feminist security studies and martial empiricism. In short, the uncanny haunts accounts of sexual violence in the collision of sexuality and machinery in the image of a body weapon, in the unsettling designation of sexuality as itself both familiar and dangerous, and in the strange movement of violent bodies across the boundary between wartime and peacetime. A concluding discussion draws out implications and challenges for thinking about embodied violence, advocating renewed attention to the history of weaponization as a fallible and confounding process.

Keywords: critical war studies, embodiment, feminism, phenomenology, uncanny, wartime sexual violence

Topics: Feminisms, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Security, Sexual Violence, Rape, Violence, Weapons /Arms

Year: 2020

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