[AUDIO] KQED: Her War: The Aftermath of Military Sexual Assault
KQED talks to Mimi Chakarova is the director of “Her War”:
Robert Rosenthal, who runs the Center for Investigative Reporting, spoke with me last summer about doing a documentary on the increasing number of women veterans who end up on the street. I was interested in this issue because of my previous work as a filmmaker and photojournalist documenting violence against women, and my work filming in Baghdad’s Red Zone in 2009. I decided to focus on the Greater Los Angeles area because the region has one of the highest numbers of homeless veterans in the country – over 8,500 – with many living in hellish conditions on LA’s notorious Skid Row.
I wound up doing profiles of eight women vets, some who had returned from Iraq and had served in combat units, and others who were stationed in Germany during the Cold War. One recurring theme that emerged was the majority had experience what the armed services calls “Military sexual trauma” while on duty. Most had been raped by their immediate supervisors and had remained silent for years.
