‘Broken Culture’ Keeps Troops at Risk of Sexual Assault, Advocates Say
They wonder whether real change is possible before today’s leaders age out and leave.
JENNIFER HLAD | DECEMBER 9, 2022
PERSONNEL PENTAGON CONGRESS ARMY NAVY AIR FORCE MARINE CORPS
Part 3 of "The Threat Within," a three-part series on sexual assault in the U.S. military. Read Part 1 and Part 2.
Ten years ago, Erin Kirk was in a group chat with several other female Marines when the subject of sexual harassment and sexual assault came up. Many of the women reported that they had been groped during their service; Kirk had been raped.
“We were kind of comparing notes, and had said, ‘You know, we all—at the time we were serving—felt so alone, and we thought we were the only ones’,” she told Defense One. “We were just so isolated and didn’t realize that. Why did we not realize that we all went through the exact same thing?”
The women decided to form a more official group—called Not in My Marine Corps—which started as a social media movement intended to help victims understand they are not alone and later moved into advocacy for policy change. Along the way, Kirk came to a conclusion: the military has a culture problem.
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/12/broken-culture-keeps-troops-risk-sexual-assault-advocates-say/380541/
