MARINE PHOTOS RECALL TAILHOOK

Military brass has been failing servicewomen for decades

As the world’s largest employer, the U. S. military is a vehicle for social mobility and wields strong influence on our broader culture. Our armed forces can be a powerful driver for social progress: They led the way on racial integration, and on the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Yet for decades, our military and civilian leaders have failed to address a culture where sexual violence, harassment, misogyny and reprisal are commonplace.

In 1992, I exposed the Tailhook sexual abuse scandal, where more than 100 Navy and Marine officers sexually assaulted more than 80 women during an aviator convention in Las Vegas. Under public and congressional scrutiny, then- Navy Secretary Sean O’Keefe acknowledged, “The larger issue is a culture problem, which has allowed demeaning behavior and attitudes toward women to exist.” He promised that “senior leadership” was “totally committed to confronting this problem.”

FACEBOOK GROUP Fast- forward 25 years. This past weekend, it was reported that photos of female Marines had been circulated without their consent in an invitation- only Facebook group called Marines United, which had more than 30,000 members. These images were accompanied by degrading and abusive comments, including suggestions of rape and sexual assault. In response, Marine Corps leadership had nothing to offer but a call for better behavior.

Commandant Robert Neller said simply, “The success of every Marine … is based on mutual trust and respect,” and he called on “every Marine to demonstrate the highest integrity and loyalty to fellow Marines.”

This is denial of a bigger problem: Military leadership is complicit in criminal acts against their own servicemembers through their consistent failure to act.

And this is not the first incident. In 2013, reports of similar online harassment and abuse of female Marines led Rep. Jackie Speier, D- Calif., to call for accountability. Leadership is clearly lacking, and current policies have proved inadequate to hold bad actors to account. A full investigation with severe consequences for everyone involved — including negligent commanders — is the first step, but can the Marine Corps brass step up?

MILITARY READINESS The military’s failure to clean up its ranks not only hurts the women who volunteer to serve their country, it also undermines the military’s mission. A 2014 report by the RAND Corporation found that the military’s sexually hostile work environment was so severe, it could be affecting the ability to recruit and retain qualified members. Who’d sign up to serve their country when leadership can’t protect them from the worst elements within?

One victim, Marisa Woytek, a former lance corporal whose photos had been taken from her Instagram account and posted without her permission, told The Washington Post that “being sexually harassed online ruined the Marine Corps” for her, and that even if she could, she’d never re- enlist.

Reforming this culture is not only a workplace issue; it’s also a military readiness and national security imperative.

According to the Pentagon’s own data, in 2014 alone 20,000 servicemembers were raped or sexually assaulted. One in four servicewomen experienced sexual harassment or gender discrimination, and these cases were often mishandled by command: 44% of victims were encouraged to drop the issue, and 41% said no action was taken.

The Department of Defense’s inspector general reviewed two years of sexual assault and rape investigations by military authorities and found that a mere 13% of investigations resulted in a commander sending a case to court- martial, and only 4% had convictions.

Meanwhile, 62% of women who report sexual assault were retaliated against.

The failure doesn’t stop there for our servicewomen. Forty percent of homeless female veterans report having suffered sexual assault and/ or sexual harassment in the military.

And the suicide rate for female veterans is nearly six times the rate of civilian women.

Confronting this culture of misogyny and discrimination against servicewomen is a moral obligation. It is time to show the country and the world how the U. S. military can lead. Step up.

AP