Ask Obama about Military Rape

As you may know, the POTUS is taking questions from citizens via YouTube. People (mostly young white dudes, upon first glance) have submitted questions which others then vote for or against. The President will respond to the questions with the most yay votes.

Why all the background info? I’ve submitted a question about rape in the military.

Please vote for my question. (If the link doesn’t work, just search for ‘stop military rape’.) Voting ends at 8 pm tonight!

Here is my question:

Mr. President, you honor women serving in the armed forces in every speech you give. But the truth is that one in three enlisted women is sexually assaulted while serving her country. According to a CBS report, in 2007 less than 12 percent of sexual assault investigations led to prosecution. With such a low rate of prosecution it follows that, according to the Pentagon, 80% of military sexual assaults are never reported. As Commander in Chief, what are you doing to both prevent and prosecute military rape?

If you’re interested, Katie Couric did a short report on the problem last year, as did NOW on PBS. And Helen Bendict has a great article in Slate from 2007.