Why is Sexual Assault Rising in Your Army? Essay Sample

📌Category: Government, Military, Social Issues, Violence
📌Words: 571
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 04 June 2022

The gruesome murder of Vanessa Guillen was unacceptable, and that terrible event never should have happened. In September of 2008, the Department of Defense established the Army’s SHARP program by combining two existing programs which were POSH and SAPR (G-1 for STAND-TO, 2011). Since 2008, the numbers have steadily increased. The Department of Defense's approach to combat rising numbers of sexual assault is quite progressive, yet not practical because the SHARP program does not get to the root of the problem. 

Why Does Sexual Assault occur?

The social norm teaches young men that kissing leads to touching, then touching leads to intercourse, and if no communication is involved, then consent is through body language. When a woman breaks the body language connection, it triggers an aggressive response from the male counterpart. Society rewards confidence in American culture, not aggression, unfortunately men are confusing aggression with confidence. So therefore, when something interferes with how a man views himself, it may trigger a fight or flight response (Shpancer, 2014). Educating men on the proper way to initiate sex through verbal consent is imperative to solve your Army's issue.

The Army's Response to Sexual Assault

The Army's SHARP centers on awareness and prevention, training and education, victim advocacy, response, reporting, and accountability (AR 600-20-8-1, 2008). From my experience over the past three and a half years, the training consists of the same presentation with the same videos, and the Army's training is just a check the box type of event. The purpose and the goals of SHARP are very progressive but implementing these things into the culture is not doing the program justice nor the victims who are assaulted each year. Soldiers affected by sexual assault are lower enlisted females, and they do not trust the commissioned officers appointed over them. Reporting the abuse should be immediate, but these women are afraid of retaliation (Haley Britzky, 2021). 

Solutions to Sexual Assault

Addressing the solutions to the problems of sexual assault in the Army is a daunting task. Still, the Army can move in the right direction by eliminating restricted reporting in all manners relating to sexual assault. If the Army can respond to reports of sexual assault more rapidly, then victims would be more inclined to report. The Army needs a complete overhaul to the outdated videos and presentation. The tea video makes soldiers feel uneducated and insulted. There needs to be training for soldiers to notice the signs of someone sexually assaulted, such as exhausting mental signs and character changes, loss of appetite, and lastly, fear of specific people or places. As previously stated, educating men on the proper way to initiate sex through verbal consent is imperative to solve your Army's battle with sexual assault. The Army needs an entire training specifically about verbal consent. Instead of trying to cram everything into one hour. The Army has become an adult daycare because public education needs to be more direct on the importance of said consent. So that when an individual joins the military, they are not being awkward when asking for permission. Sexual assault coaching is a failure in the Army and the educational system.

Conclusion

The Department of Defense approaches sexual assault in an outdated manner, and its complete overhaul is necessary by adding separate educational classes on verbal consent and social norms. SHARP has important things to offer but needs to go deeper into the issue of why sexual assault occurs. Also, the Army needs to get rid of restricted reporting on assault cases. The goal of eliminating sexual assault is hard to do, but if anyone can do it, the Army can. Your Army will lead the way in the fight against sexual assault. We cannot allow Vanessa Guillen's death to be in vain.

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