Human Rights Film Festival: The Invisible War

After Anu Bhagwati visited our class, I admit to taking the cliche route and decided to watch The Invisible War. Prior to taking this seminar, I only heard about the movie from one of my Media Studies classes, but hadn't even thought twice about watching it - now I regret it! Hearing Bhagwati's encounters with such an inherently patriarchal power - from the double-standards between men and women's fitness exams, uniforms, available work positions, all the way to the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military - were astounding. Maybe it's because I maintained such a shallow and superficial understanding of the system (that these were men and women willing to serve the country in combat, put through intense and identity-breaking training), but it was almost shocking to hear so many stories of corruption result from what is usually regarded as an esteemed national institution.

One of the most daunting pieces of information Bhagwati shared with us was that the ratio of rape within U.S. college campuses and rape within the U.S. military were strikingly similar. This fact alone gave me something to relate to, something that hit close to home since I was already aware that sexual assault was something prevalent amongst my peers. The Invisible War furthered this awareness with a slew of scandalous statistics - that 20 percent of women in the military have reported sexual assault, the estimate that 80 percent of such assaults aren't even reported and affect both women and men as well. Even worse is that women are often penalized for alleging these sexual assaults, and though they are required to report these attacks, the perpetrators still go unpunished. Though these were issues that Bhagwati noted in class, it was heartbreaking to watch the movie and actually see the victims and hear their stories! With a face and a voice to attribute to these stories made it more difficult to fathom that these things go on within such a blindly-respected institution. Since hearing Bhagwati's stories, watching The Invisible War and taking this class in general, I've just felt angry - but a good kind of angry, that makes me feel both informed and gives me the drive to do something to help.