For the men and women serving in Iraq, sex is commonplace, according to
The Salt Lake Tribune:
...sex happens. And in Iraq, it happens a lot. [...]
But with limited exceptions in other conflicts, there has never been a time in which American men and women have served, side by side and in such numbers, in units engaged in combat.
And troops here appear to be making the best of that situation.
But the very nature of the conflict in Iraq means that the only social interactions the troops have are with each other. And while Army regulations forbid sex between soldiers, lingerie, condoms and pregnancy test kits are sold in the Army stores, birth control pills or shots are encouraged for female solders. Why? After the initial, plausible explanation that when young people are thrown together they are going to have sex, a more disturbing reason emerged...
According to one female soldier from Utah:
It's about being young and having sex. And that's what people this age do."
She went on to brag about the number of others she had made, "feel a little less at war and a little more at home."
Sex plain and simple...is that all it is?
"Some girls here say, if you just flirt with a guy you can get whatever you want from them," said Sgt. Emily Zike, one of two female soldiers with the Utah-based 222nd Field Artillery.
But such exploits have consequences for female soldiers who do not make themselves available for conquest. [...]
Married women, on the other hand, are considered "up for grabs" until they demonstrate otherwise, at which point, many female soldiers bitterly say, they are considered to be "bitches."
Even anonymously, female soldiers are reluctant to speak about sexual harassment. "They won't demote you, because that would be too obvious, but you can forget about being promoted, or even treated like a human being, if you make those kinds of waves," said one female soldier in Mosul.
Is the sex that "happens a lot" in Iraq all the just-for-fun, youth-driven sex described early in the article? How much of it is coerced? We don't know how blatant or widespread the sexual harrassment is in Iraq and in the wake of abu Ghraib, any investigation by the military into their own misconduct would be meaningless. But I find it deeply disturbing that a female Marine officer in Iraq believes:
"You have two choices: You can keep your pants on and be miserable and be harassed or you can take your pants off and you'll still get harassed, but you'll be a little less miserable."
What are we spreading again? Freedom?