The persistence of sexual assault within the US military
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343317720487 |
| Author | Elisabeth Jean Wood,Nathaniel Toppelberg |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Research Articles |
The persistence of sexual assault within
the US military
Elisabeth Jean Wood & Nathaniel Toppelberg
Department of Political Science, Yale University
Abstract
What accounts for the puzzling persistence of sexual assault of both women and men within the ranks of the US
military? Despite increasing efforts to end this intraforce violence, sexual assault of women persists at levels com-
parable to those in the civilian population and significantly higher than that of other crimes (data challenges prevent
comparing rates for men). Drawing on recent analysis of rape as a practice rather than a strategy of war, we suggest the
answer lies in the socialization not only of recruits but also of officers. We draw on an original typology of
socialization processes and analysis of four well-documented cases to suggest the following account of why sexual
assault persists. First, informal socialization processes (including sexualized hazing) trivialize sexual harassment and
assault, establish assault as an appropriate form of punishment (including of those transgressing military gender
norms), and license retaliation against victims who report. Second, officers sometimes sexually harass and assault
subordinates, thereby endorsing similar acts by servicemembers under their command. Third, formal socialization
processes of enlisted men and women, despite recent reforms, continue to reproduce a masculinity that undermines
policies that seek to prevent sexual assault, in part because it fails to override these unauthorized and illegal
socialization processes. Finally, the socialization of officers, combined with problematic incentive structures, under-
cuts efforts to end the de facto tolerance of sexual abuse by many officers. In our emphasis on horizontal as well as
top-down socialization processes, and on those that subvert official policies as well as those that seek to inculcate
them, we also contribute to scholarly understanding of socialization within organizations more generally.
Keywords
conflict-related sexual violence, military sexual assault, political violence, socialization, state militaries
After Liz Luras joined the US Army, her date to the
Marine Corps Ball, a fellow soldier, raped her. Although
she did not report it, a third soldier did. After Luras
returned to her unit, her peers harassed her and raped her
twice more – in retaliation for speaking out, she believes
(Braunschweiger, 2016). The Army eventually forced her
out on unfavorable terms that limited her access to health
care and left a black mark on her record, while her rapists
were never charged and remained in the Army.
Servicemen are also victims of sexual assault. In 2009,
a group of servicemembers gang-raped a recently enlisted
soldier. When he reported the assault, his unit comman-
ders told him, ‘It must have been your fault. You must
have provoked them’ (Ellison, 2011).
These are not rare events. A recent survey estimated
that almost 5% of active-duty servicewomen and almost
1% of servicemen experienced a sexual assault during the
year beginning 1 September 2013; 2.1% of service-
women and 0.3% of servicemen suffered rape (Morral,
Gore & Schell, 2014–16, Vol. 2: 11–12). In almost all
cases, the perpetrators were military colleagues, often but
not always male. Sexual harassment is still more com-
mon: 21.6% of women and 6.6% of men reported hav-
ing experienced harassm ent during that year (Morral,
Gore & Schell, 2014–16, Vol 2: 34).
Sexual assault within the US military remains fre-
quent despite two decades of ‘zero-tolerance’ policies
(three in the case of the Navy) and more than a decade
Corresponding author:
elisabeth.wood@yale.edu
Journal of Peace Research
2017, Vol. 54(5) 620–633
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343317720487
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