IVAW: Providing a Safe Space for Women and People of All Colors

When viewing the IVAW.org community through a feminist and anti-racist lens, one will find a positive and equal environment for people off all genders and colors. The content of the site allows for information to be collected that falls way out of the public discourse, enabling the most repressed voices of our time to speak. The victims of our permanent war economy are typically not afforded the luxury of Internet access, a reality that IVAW.org confronts daily. While IVAW.org cannot fix the issues of access for those living in warzones, they can allow for members to represent ideas that raise concern for the victims of war.

Iraq veteran’s themselves have been placed in a subordinate media position in the United States and elsewhere. They are misrepresented and under-represented in the dominant media structures. Only 1% of the US population serves in the military, and this leaves a gap in the understanding of most Americans that allows for the marginalization of veteran’s issues. Veteran’s today face homelessness and suicide on a scale that has never been recorded before. The mental health issues of men and women in service are not properly addressed by government that chooses to send them to war.

The issues of women in the military, an even smaller minority of the US population, are represented greatly on the site. This site allows for a horizontal creation and management by all of its members, which has created a feminist and anti-racist space through the codification of the site. Good Job!