Widespread sexual harassment of female students at the Army and Navy military academies is fostering an environment in which sexual assaults are likely to occur, the Pentagon reported to Congress on Thursday. The new study, ordered by lawmakers following a sex-abuse scandal at the Air Force Academy, said progress is also being made at the other two service schools in fighting harassment but concluded that major problems remain.
At both the Army's U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, records from the past 10 years show alleged sexual offenders "were not consistently or effectively held accountable through the criminal justice system," the report said. Some in the academy communities do not value women as highly as men, it added, in large part because women are in a minority in the armed forces, are generally kept out of combat and are held to different physical fitness standards.
The 12-member Defense Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies made key recommendations to Congress, including increasing the number of female students and officers in positions of authority at the Army and Navy schools, which produce future military leaders....
On the one hand, this is mildly surprising. After all, Army and Navy went through these scandals years ago, when women were first admitted to the academies -- there were several reported incidents of gang rape, for example -- and you'd think that they'd be further along dealing with things.
But then, you'd expect that Air Force would have been dealing with this earlier, as well.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this report. Without the impetus of several nasty press revelations dogging at their heels, will Army and Navy actually move to make changes? Will the Pengagon ask them to do so? After all, if the environment producing these problems is being fostered from the top down ... there are levels above the academies.
Posted by iain at August 29, 2005 12:02 AM
