Women in the Military Focus on Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment of women in the military has increasingly become anissue acknowledged by officers and civilians. Sexual harassment of womenin the military can have profound effects on a woman's psychological andphysical well being. Sex harassment also may impact women's ability tosucceed among the ranks of the military. Recent headlines in the newssuggest that sexual harassment is still a prevalent problem in themilitary. A survey conducted by the US Department of Defense between 1988and 1995 revealed that sexual harassment is in fact however, declining. According to the survey, the percentage of military women who reportedsome form of sexual harassment, which includes uninvited and unwantedsexual attention, declined from 64 to 55 percent. Men also were surveyed,reporting a drop from 17 to 14 percent (Defense Link, 1996). The U.S.Department of Defense has reported these statistics as positive. Howeverwomen considering entering the military should be concerned that as many as55% of cadets are still reporting sexual harassment (Defense Link, 1996). The DOD is working on measures to mitigate the problem. Among theseinclude surveys passed out to women respondents, asking them w
Areas addressed included the buttocks, thighs, breasts and otherbody parts. As many as 54% of women reported this type of sex harassment(Reuters, 2003). A large majority of the women surveyed also reported being victims ofless aggressive forms of sexual harassment, including touching andfondling. Sexual harassment is a problemthat indeed crosses boundaries of "gender, rank and race" (PBS, 1997), butis a problem that is first and foremost prevalent among women. Evelyn Foote points out that too often, crude and offensive behaviors areignored, and frequently enough only issues of sexual assault and rape areconsidered severe enough to warrant a sexual harassment claim (PBS, 1995). Supervisors also need to develop more healthy environments where sexuallyaggressive or "demeaning" conduct is simply not tolerated. At almost the same time thisreport came out, the Air Force Academy announced that it was about toembark upon investigation of more than 50 cases of rape that had beenreported at the school over the last 10 years (Reuters, 2003). Women are not only more likely thanmen to be sexually harassed in the military, but the negative effect of thesex harassment has been found to be "considerably more pronounced"(Drasgow, et. Among the risk factors identified for women include women who joinedthe military at a young age, generally aged 19 or younger. Other risk factors included environmentalfactors such as work environments that allowed sexually inappropriatebehavior. A majority of offenders were shown to be non-commissionedofficers under the influence of drugs and alcohol (Reuters, 2003). hat themilitary can do to improve the situation. Forexample, in a recent interview, a military officer reported magazines andother sexually explicit material laying around as simply "clutter.
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Acceptance Essays
