Sexual Harassment and Assault in the Army

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Why Sexual Assault Occurs in the Army
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to determine why personnel in the army remain gender-stereotyped and rape deficient despite robust training initiatives and requirements. In the military, sexual assault occurs as a result of insufficient knowledge and understanding associated with gender stereotypes and rape myths acceptance. Training validity and quality and preventive measures to address the challenges require a major overhaul while the stigma associated with retaliation, reporting, and other adverse reporting effects continue. Outside the military, any sexual harassment or assault is considered a tragedy, and in spite of attention brought to the issue, little progress has been made to combat the problem truly. Despite the growth in the number of assaults and harassments, the impact of sexual misconduct, a seemingly small percentage in the workplace, relative to the army, are pervasive. The essay aims to address reasons for sexual misconduct, the risks associated with the acts, and training approaches to minimize the vice in the army.

Why Sexual Assault Occurs in the Army

Sexual assault occurs in the army due to the understanding and knowledge deficiencies, specifically regarding rape myths acceptance and gender stereotypes. The deficiencies have been contributed to by the military culture where the patriarchal structure in the army emphasizes masculine ideals, which encourages aggression, dominance, risk-taking, and self-sufficiency notions (Schuyler et al., 2017). With only 14.4 percent and 17.9 percent of women in active duty and on reserve and guard respectively, the behavior of the male soldiers comes as no surprise.

The current approach to training does not lead to minimized risks associated with sexual assault. Despite robust training initiatives and requirements, prevention and quantity of reporting training, and sexual assault response and prevention training, little progress is made in dealing with the assaults (Souder, 2017). The main challenge causing little impact on the current training approaches relative to sexual assault is founded not only on the established triggers for the assaults but also on the recognised consequences of reporting. Therefore, the idea that an increase in sexual assault reporting does not imply a rise in the crime levels exists in the army (Souder, 2017). The training ensures that sexual assault reporting is not perceived as a prevalence measure.

Insufficient knowledge and understanding also correlates to cultural acceptance in the army. Unlike civilians, sexual assault victims in the army refrain from reporting or seeking help with the abuse due to the fear that leadership will do nothing (Schuyler et al., 2017). Schuyler et al. (2017) shows that respectively, 43 and 21 percent of female and male soldiers reported sexual assault and experienced a negative consequence afterwards. Contrary, instead of receiving support, the victims may face an invasion of privacy, blame, retaliation, and incredulous questioning resulting in secondary victimization.

To end sexual assault in the army, there is a need to change the command culture and climate within the military to overcome the ineffectiveness currently associated with it. Hahn et al. (2022) show that currently, the U.S. government has implemented the Bipartisan Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act, which aims to create a fair, impartial, and accountable military justice system. Similarly, the act ensures that additional prevention measures are implemented to change how the military prosecutes and moves about sexual assault and harassment.

Conclusion

Training validity and quality and preventive measures to address sexual assault require a major overhaul since they are responsible for the retaliation, reporting, and other adverse effects of reporting the crime. The military culture emphasizes masculine ideals, which encourage aggression, dominance, risk-taking, and self-sufficiency notions, which, when coupled with cultural acceptance, results in an invasion of privacy, blame, retaliation, and incredulous questioning resulting in secondary victimization. Men and women have same rights serving in the army and achieving equality in both genders starts by changing the patriarchal structure that fosters sexual assault.

References

Hahn, C. K., Jarnecke, A. M., Calhoun, C., Melkonian, A., Flanagan, J. C., & Back, S. E. (2022). Sexual harassment and assault during deployment: Associations with treatment outcomes among Veterans with co-occurring PTSD and SUD. Military Psychology, 34, 1, 12-22. Web.

Schuyler, A. C., Kintzle, S., Lucas, C. L., Moore, H., & Castro, C. A. (2017). Military sexual

assault (MSA) among veterans in Southern California: Associations with physical health,

psychological health, and risk behaviors. Traumatology, 23(3), 223234. Web.

Souder, W. C., III. (2017). Risk factors for sexual violence in the military: Analysis of sexual assault and sexual harassment incidents and reporting. Naval Postgraduate School. Web.

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Sexual Harassment and Assault in the Army

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