Sexual Harassment In The Military Essay

Causes of Military Sexual Assault. On one hand the blame of military sexual assault is cast upon the offenders; meanwhile, on the other hand, the blame is pushed onto military heads and leaders. The military promotes an overarching characteristic of masculinity. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines masculinity as “constituting the gender that ordinarily includes most words or grammatical forms referring to males,” this definition proves that the word masculine is equivalent to being seen as manly. Within the military, “particular attitudes toward masculinity have been found to be related to heightened levels of rape propensity. Standards of masculinity that emphasize dominance, assertiveness, aggressiveness, independence, self-sufficiency, and willingness to take risks” (Morris 701). Overall the majority of military leaders and important personnel look for masculinity as the dominating trait to make a soldier and that is one of the causes of military sexual assault. With this being said, the military does not want someone who is weak; however, you will find that women are considered the “weak link” in the military. Russell Strand, of the Family Advocacy Law Enforcement Training Division claimed “Masculinity cannot be victimized, because if you are a leader, if you are a masculine person and you are victimized, then you are weak” (Strand). If a women does not demonstrate masculinity or dominance she is seen as weak and is at higher

In the past, military news typically evolved tragic training incidents or deaths during overseas combat. However, over the last several years many incidents involving military personnel and sexual assault have made headlines across the United States. Military women and men have brought to light the lack of justice for victims of sexual assault, and the prevalence of such attacks. Questions arise as to why victims do not report incidents or seek assistance when they are physically or sexually assaulted. Many reasons are due to how the system of reporting is established within the military, retaliation and further re-victimization within the chain of command. Modifications to the current system have begun within the Department of Defense and

Throughout the world, deviant acts and social controls are committed everyday. An incredibly significant one that is often unreported is sexual assault within the military. Sexual assault is already determined as an extremely deviant act throughout the world. All acts of rape and other abusive acts should never be dismissed or ignored, but rape within the military is often not reported or recognized. If it is brought to light, the victims are generally in fear of losing their positions, rankings, homes, relationships with their spouses and families, etc…. This is not to state that men are not also victims of sexual assault, but women are much more prone and vulnerable to being attacked and harassed. I will be focusing on the female victims of military assault in this paper.

“The most shocking cover up in the United States Military is not what you would expect (The Invisible War),” reports of sexual assaults over all branches of the military have tremendously increase every since women have been allow to take part of the military. According to the Secretary of Defense, over 500,000 male and female soldiers have suffered of sexual abuse from senior peers and commanders. During the past years, many women reported a variety of cases of sexual abuse. Sadly, the victims were only ignored, blamed and punished for the events. Sexual assaults are considered a scandalous subject which our military has decided to avoid, but by doing so, the number of rapes has increase even faster. Rape is a repetitive criminal;

Presently women are sacrificing their lives serving this country in all branches of the military in the United States. Women are more involved in combat situations since the war began in Afghanistan and Iraq. With the increase of women in the military came the increase of sexual violence. In the beginning, very few reports of sexual violence were reported; over time the number of reported cases became a huge issue that brought awareness to those that work with the President of the United States. At that moment, processes were being looked at; changes needed to be made to find ways to give confidence to victims, to feel safe enough to report the crime of sexual violence. The Department of Defense is currently working on measures to alleviate the problem. Sex crimes on women in the military can have intense effects on their mental, physical and emotional well-being. Sexual harassment and sexual assault also extends to include

In “The Invisible War,” it is noted that “women who have been raped in the military have a PTSD rate higher than men who have been in combat” (The Invisible War, 2012). The impact that military sexual assault has on victims is tremendous. Both physical and mental trauma are common, and they play a significant role in how victims of sexual assault are able to return to their daily lives.

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the issue of rape and sexual assault in the military. The number of attacks for rape and sexual assault in the military are at an all-time high. Women have recently been allowed to fight on the front line. While this may be a huge achievement for women-kind, for this woman, it is a very scary thought. I am a junior at Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences; a school geared towards students wishing to enter the medical field. I may be forced to join the military one day if a war breaks out and women are needed to protect the country. I would be happy to serve my country if I did not have to be scared of my fellow soldiers. Rape and sexual assault are major issues in the military and

US Armed Forces is historically an organization lead by men, for men. It is comprised of about 14.5 % female and 85.5% male according to a 2011poll (CNN U.S, Jan 2014). In an organization with a rich history and legacy of obedience and restraint, it is hard to imagine the secret society of “The good ol boys”. It has been acceptable for men to “work hard, play hard”. We have all seen the movies where the men come back from overseas, invade the bars, have a good time, take a girl home, and it is acceptable behavior. What happens after they leave the bar? What happens when she says no? In November of 2013, there were 3,553 reported sexual assault cases (ABC News, 2013).

More than a decade after rape or physical assault during military service, women reported severely decreased health-related quality of life, with limitations of physical and emotional health, educational and financial attainment, and severe, recurrent problems with work and social activities.” (Para 4.) The article talks about the frequency of women getting raped or sexually assaulted, and the injuries that these women face physically and emotionally, even years after the incident occurs. In this particular study, a “Cohort of women veterans who served in the Vietnam, post-Vietnam, or Persian Gulf War era was selected.” (Para 9.) Around six hundred women participated in this study, and “Almost half the participants (48%) reported some type of physical or sexual victimization during their military service. Physical assault was reported by 35%, and most (58%) had been assaulted at least twice. Rape was reported by 30%, in 11% it was attempted and in 19% completed.” The seriousness of these situations recurring should not go

The research question for this project is: What is the Impact of SHARP Training on Soldiers’ Attitudes of Sexual Harassment? There has to be a want to stop sexual harassment and hopefully the army has developed that program. But as you could tell from my literature review the results were not that concrete. Dr. Amy Street is one of the most dedicated participants in these studies and she is not sure that it is improving. Drasgow, Fitzgerald, and Sims also recognize that this is a major problem with retaining some soldiers, but I also found they had no major solution either. With the help of my survey and the authors in the literature review, my intent is to determine if the SHARP training is working. This paper proposes the impact of the SHARP training on the soldiers’ attitudes of sexual harassment will be a minor one.

The military has become the epicenter for rape and abuse of women, all of which military officials have swept aside with all too little concern. Case after case of rape and sexual harassment are dismissed with little to no investigation made. The women of the military live scared of their male superiors and colleagues, and what they might do. Victims of sexual harassment or rape often see their pursuers honorably discharged and returned to society with no criminal record.

Sexual Harassment comes in many forms and weather spoken, verbal, written or the behavior itself, it makes the person uncomfortable and the end results is all same, Sexual Harassment is unwelcome and unwanted behavior. Sexual Harassment discrimination is illegal. It is the employer obligation to make sure their organization and employees have protection from discrimination. This paper will show that Jacksonville shipyard acted unethically by failing to protect one of their employees Lois Robinson. Jacksonville Shipyard was well aware that Ms. Robinson faced sexual harassment on a daily basis by her male co- workers. Once Lois complained to Management that she objected to the co-workers behaviors , instead of helping her they made

In recent years, there has been an increase in the attention given to sexual harassment at the work place. Unnecessary and unwanted sexual attention between women and men in the workplace has been there for a very long time in the past. For many years, this unwanted sexual attention has been categorized as a natural form of male/female interaction. However, this has changed as women have become more involved in organizations. Thoughts and feelings about the acceptability of this behavior are rapidly changing. What was acceptable before has become problematic and undesirable internationally (Sorenson, Mangione-Lambie and Luzio 457).

With a specific end to a goal to comprehend the impacts and to find a superior method for reducing sexual harassment in the workplace, it is imperative to realize what is known as Sexual Harassment first (Crull 1984). Sexual harassment can be abstracted as a sequences of collaborations amongst the harassers and victims that either restrain or upsurge violence by outsiders or third parties (McDonald et al. 2010). Different literature suggests how different models of study in sexual harassment predicts the sorts of activities prone to be utilized by culprits to minimize shock, predicts the outcomes of neglecting to utilize strategies such as backfire to raise outrage. Using this outline, this documented study observed outrage management model reported as a proof in 23 cases-decisions of sexual harassment in Australia. It was discovered that harassers minimize this outrage by covering up, undervaluing the objective, reinterpreting the occasions, utilizing official channels to give an appearance of equity and threatening or bribing individuals. The findings in this study likewise highlight that, given the constraints of statutory and hierarchical protections in decreasing the frequency and seriousness of sexual harassment in a community, individual answers might be in effect as a feature of a multilevel reaction in decreasing the rate and effect of workplace sexual harassment (McDonald et al. 2010).

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, sexual harassment is defined as “uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature especially by a person in authority toward a subordinate.” Sexual harassment happens in the workplace and it affects both women and men. There is a fine line between the occasional unwanted sexual advances and comments that someone may find inappropriate. These instances may not always be considered illegal, but if these instances are consistent in nature, make you feel uncomfortable and is affecting your work performance, than you just might have a case.