Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis

War has always been a terrible thing with death and worry everywhere. I was watching Saving Private Ryan the other day and I realized how scary it would be to actually be on the front lines. War is such a scary thing, especially when it is against your own side; such is the case with women soldiers in the military today. “The Private War of Women Soldiers” is an article written by Helen Benedict that describes such stories and fears that our women soldiers face today. Helen is a very one sided writer that is difficult to see her side on with some issues and other issues that need to be discussed.
Benedicts article is about the rape and sexual harassment that women soldiers in the United States military have to deal with. The article is written with interviews of twenty women soldiers and their stories and situations that they have to deal with. She writes her paper with a very one-sided point of view. While the women’s’ arguments are great, they are completely one sided and there is not one point from the other side of the story, or the men’s view.
The way Benedict puts out her information in her article is what makes others disagree with her. She is extremely liberal and opposed to war. Her opening sentence says, “As thousands of burned-out soldiers prepare to return to Iraq to fill President Bush’s unwelcome call for at least 20,000 more troops, I cant help wondering what the women among those troops will have to face.” This line is filled with negative words, attacking President Bush and the war, showing her true feelings of the war.
Another aspect that others would feel is an unfair is the people she interviews and how she interviews them. She interviewed twenty women who all have their separate accounts of rape and sexual harassment. This is not a bad thing but it is very close-minded and does not portray both sides of the story. If she interviews men then she will get both sides of the story. Also if she does that then she will have more people listening to her and more open to what she has to say. One thing that could be done is interview more women, women that have not had any problems with these issues. Also if she interviewed men in the military it would help her case even more. How she could interview them is just by asking questions on how the men feel about the women being in the armed forces. There are many things that Benedict can do to prove her argument better and get more people to fully listen to her stance.
She should get interviews from officers who do protect women and see how they handle such cases. Helen needs to open up and be less one-sided herself. When she gets some of her statistics, she is very vague, making people who are less knowledge able think things are extremely bad. When she states, “…450 women have been wounded in Iraq, and 71 have died—more female casualties and deaths than in Korean, Vietnam and first Gulf Wars combined” it leads people to think that there was a huge amount of women in each and everyone of those wars, which there wasn’t. She is completely basing her paper on one-sided facts when she really needs to open and broaden the article.
Helen may have presented her issue wrong but I do feel she has touched on a very important issue. Rape in the military is nothing to be over looked and is a bigger issue than most people realize. The last thing that any person joining the military should have to worry about is rape, whether being a guy or a girl. It does happen to both.
When Benedict quotes Jennifer Spranger saying, “My team leader offered me up to $250 for a hand job. He would always make sure that we were out alone together at the beginning and he wouldn’t stop pressuring me for sex,” it truly clarifies that this is happening and even officers are pressuring soldiers for it. Benedict continues to show and give numerous accounts of women that have been sexually harassed or raped. She continues by adding that there are problems with reporting it and that there is no help for these women. After discussing this article with numerous people, especially my friends who are currently serving in the armed forces, they said that they have not seen a problem with this. Another person that I asked about this said they handle these cases way differently then Benedict reports.
After discussing the actual consequences with people that have dealt with this they said that both people are transferred immediately the next day. Benedict does not report this at all, in fact she quotes Spranger again saying, “You rat somebody out, you’re screwed. You’re gonna be a loner until they eventually push you out.” By stating it this way, she gives no information if she was transferred or even if she reported it.
After reading this article and having little knowledge of what actually happens I feel there does need to be a real change in dealing with rape and sexual harassment in the military. I feel women should actually have a place where they can go and report this instead of having to make things so public. Clearly women do not have a secure website to report this, so I think the Department of Defense needs to work on that. The last thing anyone needs in the military is worrying about rape, there is already death around every corner. Another way that this issue can be dealt with is, a buddy system. Women should be required to have a buddy, a female, that goes with them everywhere so they don’t have to worry about taking a shower or going out for water at night.
This is a terrible thing that needs to be dealt with. Now the Department of Defense of is trying to help but they seem to not be getting anywhere. I feel Benedict is a terrible writer who does not know how to address an audience, especially if she would like conservative people to listen to what she has to say. Only interviewing twenty women is getting one side of a story that is a lot bigger of issue that deserves both sides. Whether I agree with Helen or not, she did touch on a vital issue and it does need to be dealt with. War is a terrible thing especially when you have to fight off your own team.