Description
This paper utilises cultural camouflage theory and critical feminist epistemology to examine how hypermasculine military institutions shape women veterans' sense-making and narrative construction in the aftermath of gendered violence and institutional betrayal. Drawing from qualitative sociological PhD research with Australian women veterans, the analysis reveals a novel phenomenon of "dual truths" whereby women simultaneously hold contradictory narratives about their service experiences. Intense military socialisation establishes normalisation of male dominance and privileging but also produces camaraderie and deep allegiance to the institution. This allows women to maintain attachment to military identity and community even whilst recognising profound betrayal. The participants defended positive aspects of military service whilst privately acknowledging devastating experiences of violence and institutional abuse. This pattern demonstrates how institutional power operates not merely through concealment of misconduct, but through fundamentally shaping how victims themselves construct and narrate their experiences. These findings expand understandings of how gendered institutional violence operates beyond the violent act itself, revealing how patriarchal military structures infiltrate the very processes through which women construct meaning from traumatic experiences, exposing the gendered politics of knowledge production following military misconduct.
