On many occasions I have experienced inappropriate behavior by V.A. personnel because I am a woman. I still get mistaken for a wife or caretaker of a male veteran. I still have to remind medical staff to close curtains so I do not have to be subjected to the gaze of male patients — and so they don’t have to be subjected to mine. And just a few months ago, I reported sexual harassment by a male doctor who I felt was inappropriately personal with me in an initial clinical assessment. He then not only walked in on an acupuncture appointment while I was in my underwear but stayed and stared awhile until, aghast, I told him that he needed to leave.

For many veterans who have experienced sexual or gender-based trauma, a simple appointment at a V.A. hospital leads to intensive re-traumatization — for me, hypervigilance, panic attacks and emotional meltdowns are normal. Many of us bring “battle buddies” to our hospital visits so these symptoms won’t crush us. I now bring my certified service dog.

As a woman veteran, I try to ignore the shameless stares. I look down, or away, so as to avoid unwanted conversations. I make myself as small and invisible as possible. I’ve gotten these skills down to a science. But it is still exhausting. And more to the point, veterans shouldn’t have to run a gauntlet of inappropriate behavior before seeing a nurse or a doctor.

We shouldn’t be surprised by these problems. V.A. staff — whether civilian or former military — largely take their cues from hypermasculine military culture. Critics of the administration often cite veterans’ comfort level with military culture as the main reason we should support the status quo. Even the current secretary of veterans affairs, Robert Wilkie, said that veterans “want to go places where people speak the language and understand the culture.” But for those of us for whom military culture itself is the source of trauma, the V.A. is the last place one can expect positive outcomes.

The veterans service organizations that are largely resisting privatizing the V.A. may also be out of touch with the needs of a younger and more diverse veterans population. Most patients are older men whose cultural norms regarding gender are becoming increasingly obsolete. #MeToo may have hit many institutions across the nation, but it seems to have barely made a dent at the V.A. and among many veterans groups.