Sexual Harassment in the Military - Free Report Example

Introduction

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual desires, advances for sexual favors, and deliberate, aggressive commentaries of sexual nature when the suggestion to or refusal of such behavior by an individual is used as a foundation for a career or employment decisions touching that person. Sexual harassment in the military involves a broad behavior that affects the working environment, such as sexist and display of pornographic materials, which later constitute sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in the army is controlled by Sexual Harassment/ Assault Response Prevention (SHARP), which is involved in the prevention efforts to deal with sexual harassment. This paper aims to discuss sexual harassment and the means of preventing it in the military.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Diverse Factors

There are diverse factors that contribute to the existence of sexual violence. It is always essential to understand that the victims involved in sexual harassment should not be blamed, but the perpetrators should be. These perpetrators possess all the powers to control the commitment of all the cases of sexual harassment. Since the perpetrators use the traditional gender roles that focus on undermining the equality of women in society, they end up treating the targeted victim with no respect or regard. The other cause of sexual assaults is the gender-based stereotypes that strengthen inequality between genders (Spencer 2017). For instance, in a culture that men are seen as being aggressive and the women are portrayed as passive, a man who pressures them for sex is seen as accepting. For example, around 25% of women in the United States working in the army have been sexually assaulted, which is likely from fellow soldiers.

The current approach to training in the army is essential in reducing sexual harassment. Different organizations have been conducting anti-sexual harassment training for a couple of years. The goal of forming anti-sexual harassment programs is to increase the awareness and accuracy of recognizing sexual harassment. Training comes in all sizes and shapes, where it may involve games, videos, group discussions, which differs in length and sessions. The anti-sexual harassment training is essential, particularly in enhancing awareness and education to the organization (Cassino 2019). The other importance of training is that it increases the information concerning sexual harassment; it results in increased reporting and decreases target blaming and helpful in mobilizing the bystanders.

Measures and Rules

Sexual harassment in the military can be ended by enacting some measures and rules in the military. One of the ways of ending sexual violence is by measuring safety, not just assaults. The extreme actions happen more often in the environment where lesser transgressions are treated benignly. For instance, when a soldier brushes up with another and makes sexually aggressive expressions, all the bystanders must do so to show acceptance. The commanders should also be held accountable to enhance the creation of a safe culture. The commanders in higher positions help set standards, hence helping reduce sexual harassment (Grenny 2013).

Conclusion

In conclusion, sexual harassment in the military has been prevalent. Some of the factors have been involved in the manner in which the assaults occur. The training of the organizational members on sexual harassment issues is vital in reducing the cases of sexual harassment. To mitigate these assaults, there should be other factors such as measuring the harassments more frequently from the bottom level.

Reference

Cassino, Dan, and Yasemin BesenCassino. 2019. “Race, Threat and Workplace Sexual Harassment: The Dynamics of Harassment in the United States, 1997–2016.” Gender, Work & Organization, July.
https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12394.

Grenny, Joseph. 2013. “How to End Sexual Abuse in the Military.” Time. May 17, 2013. https://nation.time.com/2013/05/17/how-to-end-sexual-abuse-in-the-military/.

Spencer, Chelsea, Allen Mallory, Michelle Toews, Sandra Stith, and Leila Wood. 2017. “Why Sexual Assault Survivors Do Not Report to Universities: A Feminist Analysis.” Family Relations 66 (1): 166–79.
https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12241.