1) The author chose to research the topic of the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on female veterans because she believes it is an important issue that needs more attention. 2) As a woman, the author understands the social stigmas that women face and is interested in learning what experiences female veterans have both during and after war service. 3) The author currently has many questions about how female veterans are treated compared to males and how they are impacted by their experiences that she hopes to answer through further research.

1. I-Search Paper: What I Knew About My Topic <br />Nicole T.<br />The Effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on Female Veterans<br />March 26, 2010<br />5th Period<br /> I chose the female veteran’s topic because I thought that is was a very important topic that needed to be addressed. I am particularly interested in this topic because I myself am a female and I understand what social stigmas we, as women, have to go through just living in a normal, day to day life. This topic spoke to me because I want to know what exactly female veterans go through before, during, and after their war experience. I can imagine that it is extremely excruciating compared to what male veterans have to go through. I think it is very important to research this topic because people are ignorant about the fact that women are being abused on the battlefield and are being mistreated at war. They should be given as much respect, justice, and honor as those given to their male counterparts.<br /> Right now, I don't exactly know how women have reacted after their war experience. I am curious to see exactly what they went through and how life was during the war. I want to know whether it was tough and whether they ever felt like they were not treated justly. I feel that there are so many things that I have yet to learn about female veterans. I want to know what exactly makes them different from male veterans. I also am interested to find out why it is always females that are targeted as the weaker gender even though women are as capable and sometimes even more capable to be as aggressive as men. I don't think it is fair how society has an automatic notion that women are a lesser being. Just because we have different body parts doesn't mean that one gender is ultimately superior to the other. Right now, I am still in the beginning stages of this research project and I plan to uncover all of these questions that I have that are yet to be answered.<br />