Reported Sexual Assaults in U.S. Military at All-Time High

The December 29, 2017, print edition of The Wall Street Journal article “Assault Reports Rise in Military” by Ben Kesling begins:

Reported sexual assaults in the military are at an all-time high as the Pentagon wrestles with a problem officials say has only recently been addressed and critics say hasn’t been fully recognized.

The depth and persistence of the military’s problem has taken on new relevance this year as allegations of sexual assault and harassment have rocked other parts of society, including business, entertainment and politics.

The online version of this article, posted December 28, 2017, with the headline “Sexual Assault in Military Isn’t Going Away as a Problem” is a more complete article and includes these fuller paragraphs:

Many harassment victims said they still think nothing will be done if they make a complaint, according to a 2014 Rand survey.

The majority of women who step forward said they have faced retaliation, said Lydia Watts, CEO of the Service Women’s Action Network. She added that the military still has a culture of complicity that also protects offenders.

“People who would never commit a sexual assault feel justified in saying, ‘Why did you ruin my buddy’s career?’ ’’ she said, adding that peers need to speak up when they see wrongdoing. “If you’re observing this behavior, it’s not enough to just say, ‘Hey, don’t go have a drink with him alone.’ ’’

While sexual assault in the military is not news to me, the fact of an all-time high — years after this issue was brought to public attention — is very upsetting. Clearly environments that allow for sexual harassment and assault of both women and men are systemic throughout civilian and military society.

BlogTalkRadio show and documentary THE INVISIBLE WAR

On the BlogTalkRadio show “Your Military Life” that I co-hosted for a year starting in November 2008, my co-host and I interviewed a former female Army soldier who had been raped while she was the teen daughter of an enlisted man and then raped when she herself was enlisted. Both perpetrators were military personnel.

And on my site FilmsThatSupportOurTroops.com I have a page about THE INVISIBLE WAR — a compelling documentary about rape in the military. The page’s intro is:

The documentary THE INVISIBLE WAR produced by Tanner King Barklow and Amy Ziering — shown at Sundance 2012 — is a powerful film about the high incidence of rape in the U.S. military — rape that often goes unchallenged and unpunished.

Click here to watch the trailer of the documentary THE INVISIBLE WAR.

And click here for the entire documentary available to stream on Amazon.

THE MISSISSIPPI DIVIDE near future sci fi book series project

Partly to work off my feelings of being helpless in this ongoing epidemic of sexual harassment and assault, I have just written a feature film screenplay — THE TRUTHFINDER — set in 2030 to discuss some of the issues in the “he said, she said” scenario.

The script is set in the near future sci fi universe on which I have already been working. I am now developing a sci fi book series THE MISSISSIPPI DIVIDE that will incorporate THE TRUTHFINDER script into the first book of the series.

I do believe that fiction can help change people’s perspectives on important issues in ways that training sessions and company rules cannot achieve. This is because fiction with its emotional portrayals can more effectively resonate than purely information programs.

Click here to read the proposal for my near future sci fi series THE MISSISSIPPI DIVIDE.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller