Sexual harassment in the military: what female cadets have to say
A congressionally mandated Pentagon report, released Friday, gauges sexual harassment and assault at America鈥檚 service academies and catalogs comments made by students during focus groups.
A sign stands outside of an entrance to the US Naval Academy campus in Annapolis, Md., Thursday. A culture of bad behavior and disrespect among athletes at US military academies is one part of the continuing problem of sexual assaults at the schools, according to a new Defense Department report that comes in the wake of scandals that rocked teams at all three academies last year.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Washington
A new Pentagon report offers a fascinating window into how students at the service academies feel the military should best handle sexual harassment and assault on campus 鈥� and why they occur.
These insights are gleaned from verbatim comments shared in focus groups conducted by Pentagon officials. They鈥檙e in an appendix to the report, released Friday, that shows that incidents of sexual assault at two of America鈥檚 three service academies are down. But there are no data to indicate whether the downtick 鈥渋s due to fewer assaults occurring or due to fewer victims opting to report,鈥� said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, director of the Defense Department鈥檚 Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO).
The Pentagon watches the results of this congressionally mandated report closely, since 鈥渢he academy is where we develop future leaders of the military,鈥� Snow noted during a briefing with reporters Friday.
Another key finding in the report: Cadets at the academies often say that peer pressure is a 鈥渂arrier to reporting,鈥� Snow said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not good.鈥�
The study also found that 鈥渢he rates for crude and offensive behavior 鈥� this is your typical locker room talk 鈥� and for sexist behavior on the 2012 survey 鈥� those were high,鈥� said Elizabeth Van Winkle, deputy branch chief of the Defense Manpower Data Center, which conducted the focus groups with students at the academies.
Between 80 and 90 percent of women indicated that they had been the object of sexist comments in the past 12 months. Defense officials sought to bore into those figures to see if they were really accurate.
鈥淲hen we did go into the focus groups, we asked a bit more about whether those rates seemed about right,鈥� Ms. Van Winkle explained. 鈥淎nd the feedback we got was that yes, they seemed about right.鈥�
What鈥檚 more, 鈥淚n fact, many said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e surprised it鈥檚 not higher,鈥� 鈥� she said. 鈥淪o this is where we started to see that culture that we鈥檝e been discussing.鈥�
These sorts of sexist comments are particularly troubling to Pentagon officials because, 鈥淭here is a strong positive correlation between the experience of sexual harassment and the eventual sexual assault of people in military units,鈥� said Nathan Galbreath, the Pentagon鈥檚 senior executive adviser to SAPRO.
鈥淎nd so we think that because these two problems are on the same continuum of harm, getting at that sexual harassment 鈥� the crude and sexist behavior 鈥� is part of the prevention work [for] sexual assault.鈥�
The focus-group comments of the cadets offer some insights into why the cadets themselves think the problem is pervasive, and how to best handle it.
When sexual harassment and assaults are prosecuted on campus, they think it might be a good idea to publicize them a bit more, even while protecting the anonymity of victims.
鈥淲hen these things happen, my concern is, Are they being at all like hushed up?鈥� one West Point cadet told Pentagon interviewers. 鈥淚 think if we wanted to raise awareness and like say that this is a problem, why isn鈥檛 it being publicized when it does happen, even anonymously?鈥�
Pentagon researchers also wanted to know from cadets whether they thought unwanted sexual contact was a problem perpetrated by many fellow cadets, or by a few problem cadets. Military officials have gotten heat from lawmakers, for example, for being resistant to the idea of predators in the ranks.
Female cadets at West Point noted that in some cases, there are one or two well-known seniors in a company 鈥渢hat has made passes at most of the plebe girls. And they all have this uncomfortable feeling around him.鈥� That said, one female cadet added, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there are a lot of males here like that.鈥�
Female cadets also reported struggling with how to best handle put-downs and sexually harassing comments, while still being 鈥渃ool.鈥�
鈥淚f someone touches you,鈥� one female cadet explained, there is an unspoken understanding that 鈥測ou don鈥檛 want to be like that girl and freak out about it.鈥� The question is how to let a fellow cadet know, 鈥淗ey, that鈥檚 not cool, don鈥檛 do it,鈥� she told Pentagon interviewers.
鈥淵ou almost have to make that character judgment and decide in your mind if you think it鈥檚 worth it.鈥�
Because female cadets are far outnumbered by their male counterparts, one female cadet reported struggling with feelings of 鈥渕aybe I am overreacting.鈥� She continued, 鈥淪o I don鈥檛 know what to do when everybody else seems to be okay with it.鈥澛�
While many women said they feel comfortable speaking up when they feel harassed, they also recognized that many female cadets also blame themselves when they experience unwanted sexual touching. 鈥淚t starts to seem like the victim鈥檚 fault for not being assertive,鈥� one said.
A clear theme that comes through in the survey, too, is that cadets of both genders feel that because the physical standards for female cadets are not as strenuous as those for male cadets, the men may have less respect for the women.
鈥淭he only thing I can think of is because some standards for women are lower,鈥� one male cadet told investigators. 鈥淢y summer training, what I did last summer, girls aren鈥檛 allowed to go to it because it鈥檚 a male-only role.鈥�
鈥淚 think I saw it during 鈥楤east鈥� a lot,鈥� said one female cadet, referring to the grueling summer training for freshmen. 鈥淚f the female is slowing down the squad because they鈥檙e having a harder time carrying the ruck, it sparks that negative mindset, like 鈥榃hy are the women in the military? Our entire unit is slowed down.鈥� I can see frustration with that.鈥�
Another female cadet noted that because the physical standards are different for men and women at the academies, it is possible for women to get higher scores than men 鈥� even though they might not have to do as many push-ups or run a mile as quickly. 鈥淭hat eats him alive,鈥� said one female cadet of a male cadet friend of hers.
Until the Pentagon allows women to compete with men for the same combat jobs in the military, that culture of disrespect will continue, says Greg Jacob, a former US Marine and policy director for the Service Women鈥檚 Action Network, in an interview. 鈥淯ntil women become full-fledged members of a team, and the more women get promoted up the chain of command 鈥� that鈥檚 really the culture change that we鈥檙e looking to see happen,鈥� he says.
Confronting the problem within the Pentagon, and at the service academies, remains 鈥渁 daunting task,鈥� said Snow, who recently took over as director at SAPRO. 鈥淚鈥檝e lost a lot of sleep in my first week on the job.鈥�