Military Sees More Sexual Harassment

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Forum Spin Doctor
Chicago Tribune
March 15, 2008 Surveys also show fewer sexual assaults
By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Thirty-four percent of women in the military and 6 percent of men said they were sexually harassed, according to the latest Pentagon survey on the issue.
The 2006 figure for women was worse than the previous finding four years earlier but better than a similar survey taken in 1995, the Defense Department said in a report Friday.
A separate report on sexual assaults showed that fewer cases—2,688—were reported last year among military personnel compared with 2,947 reported the year before. But officials said they haven't been collecting the data long enough to determine whether a downward trend in assaults was developing.
Both reports are mandated by Congress. The finding on sexual harassment was from the Defense Manpower Data Center, which is to report every four years and for the latest report surveyed more than 23,000 people in 2006. The one on sexual assaults is taken from reports of actual incidents reported in 2007.
Among the findings:
*In 2006, 34 percent of women surveyed said they had been sexually harassed, compared with 24 percent in 2002 and 46 percent in 1995. Rachel Lipari, senior scientist with the data center, said that included a wide range of problems from crude and offensive behavior — "your basic locker room talk" — to unwanted sexual attention, "which is being repeatedly asked for dates even though you said no or [asked] to enter into a sexual relationship even though you said no, and then your classic sexual coercion, your classic quid pro quo."
*About 5 percent of women said they had experienced unwanted sexual contact, ranging from unwanted touching, attempted sexual intercourse and completed sexual intercourse. That compared with 2.7 percent in 2002 and 6.2 percent in 1995.
Officials say the huge dip in problems reported in 2002 might have been an anomaly. The survey was taken only months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Lipari said officials believe 9/11 had an effect on how people responded to the survey.
Perhaps "people were likely to not take into account [the harassment] experiences that they might have had" or perhaps "we were in a window when people were actually trying to be nicer to each other," she said.
*Reports of sexual assault had jumped by about 24 percent in 2006 and nearly 40 percent in 2005. Officials attributed the increases partly to more aggressive efforts to encourage victims to come forward.
*There were 181 courts-martial last year for sexual assault.
 
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