A Policy Reason Why Military Sexual Harassment Is So Persistent
On March 10, the Department of Defense issued its newest report on the prevalence of sexual assault and sexual harassment at the nation’s military academies. The report revealed that perpetration of sexual assault and harassment are at an all-time high and that there’s been little meaningful progress in preventing or prosecuting sexual misconduct.
This should come as no surprise since Defense Department policy discourages the formal reporting of sexual harassment. It does so even though the department itself admits there’s a continuum of harm between sexual harassment and sexual assault—in other words, that the first leads to the second. Still other researchers have concluded that the department’s policy likely facilitates both crimes.
While the policy endangers all service members, nowhere is it more destructive than at the military academies. It hangs over cadets’ heads like Damocles’ sword—threatening to destroy those who report wrongdoing faster than those who perpetrate the crime. Of this, there is no doubt. Because they’ve told us it does.
