ABSTRACT
This is the worst thing I’ve ever come across in three decades in the Army.
Major General Robert Shadley (Reuters, November 7, 1996)
THE CRISIS SURFACES
One day they are going to find that this was just the tip of the iceberg. When rape victims start talking about what’s truly happening in the military, that’s when the depth of the problem will really emerge. (Female veteran affairs sexual trauma counselor, in the wake of rampant sexual abuse at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland)
The problems of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the U.S. military are epidemic. Reports of abuse continue to flood in as the problem continues to emerge. Surveys of women in the military tell a story of rampant sexual abuse and harassment by their male counterparts amid concerns that the issues are being minimized or ignored by military leaders. According to a 1997 article, “Did We Say Zero Tolerance?” in U.S. News & World Report “ . . . 18 percent of the Army’s women say colleagues have tried to coerce them into having sex and 47 percent say they’ve received unwanted sexual attention” (Newman, 1997, p. 34). Similarly, a study in 1995 by the Department of Defense found that 72 percent of women and 63 percent of men had experienced “sexist behavior” and that 47 percent of women and 30 percent of men received “unwanted sexual attention” (DoD, 1996).
