How Vanessa Guillen’s Murder Opened Another Wound in the Sexual Violence Epidemic

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BELatina Daily
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Vanessa Guillen BELatina Latina
Photo Credit IG @findvanessaguillen

Amid the social awakening to systemic racism and violence in the United States, the disappearance of a 20-year-old Army soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, went unnoticed — until now.

Vanessa Guillen, 20, did not return home after being last seen in an armory by another junior soldier, Aaron David Robinson, the prime suspect in her disappearance. Guillen’s trail disappeared from April 22 until dismembered pieces of what are believed to be her remains were found on July 1, 2020. 

Just one day before Guillen’s remains were found, Robinson fled Fort Hood and fatally shot himself when police found him and approached him in Killeen, Texas.

The remains found by the FBI near the Lion River, north of Austin, are undergoing DNA analysis that is expected to be positive, and the investigation assumes that Guillen was killed by Robinson at the base and buried with the help of his girlfriend near the river.

Guillen’s family believes her death was related to the sexual harassment the soldier suffered at the base, and they are now pressing Congress to legislate and create an independent agency for soldiers who are victims of sexual harassment and assault.

According to NPR, Guillen never reported the harassment she was subjected to, and her sister, Lupe Guillen, has argued that the soldier “did not believe such a report was taken seriously.”

“My sister was too afraid to report the harassment because no one would listen to her,” Lupe Guillen said. “They take sexual harassment, sexual assault, as a joke. They don’t care.”

In a statement, Fort Hood officials said the criminal investigation “has not found any connection between sexual harassment and Vanessa’s disappearance.” Investigators said they plan to further examine the sexual harassment allegations that have come out since Guillen disappeared.

However, several survivors of sexual harassment within the military have turned to social media to ensure that Guillen’s death is not in vain.

Under the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen, several women on social media have shared not only the assaults and harassment they have suffered, but how the institution often chooses to silence the victims and question their sexual orientation or any other reason that might detract from their arguments.

 

 

 

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Please join me in helping protect our service members by letting them know “we are our Soldiers keeper” SSG Denny, Sabrina L. Fort Bliss, TX NOT SHARP, just an NCO that gives a damn sabrina.l.denny.mil@mail.mil No service member nor their family should ever experience what happened to her. If you’re in the military and you’re being harassed by someone in uniform, please DO NOT HESITATE to reach out to me. DM me, find me on global, get in touch with me somehow. Because I will not hesitate it… I do not stand for sexual harassment or sexual assault. I promise I will be your voice. #notinmyarmy #iamasoldierskeeper #VanessaGuillen #IamVanessaGuillen #Iamhereforyou #reachout

A post shared by Sabrina Denny 😈🐺 (@sinfulwolf844) on

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⚠️ Trigger warning ⚠️ I don’t talk about my past of abuse often and I’ve never done it publicly, but with the things that are being uncovered in the military, I feel the time to speak up, is now. To my sisters-in-arms, I stand with you. The abuse you have suffered in inexcusable and unforgivable that the military has failed you. To those who aren’t a female in the military, let me clear something up. Sexual harassment and assault is an age old right for women in the military. I know more sisters-in-arms that have been harassed or assaulted by another military member than ones that haven’t. I have been harassed by superiors. I have been touched by people who I thought I could trust. I was raped by my own brothers-in-arms, boys wearing the same colors and the same @usairforce tapes on their chest, who took advantage of my drunken state and acted like nothing was wrong the next day. The unsolicited and unwanted attention from men, the verbal abuse about what they want to do to my body, the unwanted pictures that have flooded my phone. I was betrayed by my chain of command and too scared to tell anyone else. What happened to PFC Vanessa Guillén is a tragedy. Her death was senseless and horrific. The abuse she suffered is a systematic problem for women in the military. No new bill is going to fix the problem. The @deptofdefense already has a *ZERO TOLERANCE* policy when it comes to sexual harassment and assault. Yet, even with copious amounts of evidence, perpetrators walk free. We need to do better, as a military, and as females serving. We MUST look out for our sisters to the left and to the right. We need to do better. #iamvanessaguillen #sayhername #dobetterbebetter #dobetter #USAF #USMC #USCG #USN #USA

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As Latino Rebels explained, most stories have a lack of accountability as a common denominator.

A Defense Department report for fiscal year 2019 showed that there were 7,825 reports of sexual assault involving service members as victims or subjects.

A previous report found that female enlisted personnel between the ages of 17 and 24 are often at the greatest risk of being assaulted. During the same year, the reporting rate declined, a trend that is in line with Lupe Guillen’s argument that her sister as well as so many other women do not have confidence in the ranks.

Most of the complainants also claim that their assailant is still in the army.

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