{"id":17806,"date":"2013-05-13T22:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T02:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=17806"},"modified":"2013-05-13T22:55:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T02:55:00","slug":"jaw-dropping-air-force-brochure-advises-rape-victims-to-submit-instead-of-resisting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2013\/05\/jaw-dropping-air-force-brochure-advises-rape-victims-to-submit-instead-of-resisting\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaw Dropping Air Force Brochure Advises Rape Victims to \u2018Submit\u2019 Instead of Resisting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image:<\/a>
Image: L.A. Progressive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BY\u00a0SPENCER ACKERMAN<\/span><\/p>\n

An Air Force brochure on sexual assault advises potential victims not to fight off their attackers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be advisable to submit [rather] than resist,\u201d reads the<\/span>\u00a0brochure<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0(.pdf), issued to airmen at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, where nearly 10,000 military and civilian personnel are assigned. \u201cYou have to make this decision based on circumstances. Be especially careful if the attacker has a weapon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The brochure, acquired by Danger Room, issues a series of guidances on \u201crisk reduction\u201d for sexual assault. Among others, it advises people under sexual attack in parking lots to \u201cconsider rolling underneath a nearby auto and scream loud. It is difficult to force anyone out from under a car.\u201d A public affairs officer at Shaw, Sgt. Alexandria Mosness, says she believes the brochure is current.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the brochure also explains that sexual assault is not always committed by people who \u201cdon\u2019t look like a rapist\u201d \u2014 attackers \u201ctend to have hyper-masculine attitudes,\u201d it advises \u2014 it does not offer instruction to servicemembers on\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0committing sexual assault. Prevention is treated as the responsibility of potential victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRapists look for vulnerability and then exploit it in those who: are young (naive); are new to the base, deployment, area, etc.; are emotionally unstable,\u201d the<\/span>\u00a0brochure<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0(.pdf) continues.<\/span><\/p>\n

All this comes as the Air Force, and the U.S. military more broadly, deals with the fallout of the service\u2019s sexual-assault prevention and response chief, Lt. Col Jeffrey Krusinski,<\/span>\u00a0getting arrested on sexual-battery charges on Sunday<\/span><\/a><\/span>. During a Senate hearing today, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), grilled Air Force officials on how Krusinski was placed in his post. \u201cHis record is very good,\u201d Gen. Mark Welsh III, the Air Force\u2019s chief of staff, said, citing a lack of warning signs in Krusinski\u2019s prior service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Welsh said he and outgoing Air Force Secretary Michael Donley were \u201cappalled\u201d to hear of Krusinski\u2019s arrest. \u201cWe will not quit working this problem,\u201d Welsh continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pages from the brochure were provided to Danger Room by Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group that raises awareness of sexual assault within the military. The organization\u2019s spokesman, Brian Purchia, described it as an example of the military\u2019s myopia about a problem that top leaders like Welsh have sworn to take seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n

The brochure is \u201can affront to victims\u201d, Purchia told Danger Room. \u201cThe Air Force should be passing out pamphlets to our men and women in uniform on how not to commit sexual assault. \u2026 This brochure is just the latest in a long history of failed programs and policies. The military\u2019s sexual assault prevention campaigns are rooted in a wrong headed 1950\u2032s paradigm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The military does some of that \u2014 not without controversy. An artistic group called \u201cSex Signals\u201d has performed for airmen to teach scenarios about sexual assault in what an official Air Force release called \u201c<\/span>a \u2018lively and humorous\u2019 way.<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u201d (The group\u2019s founder, Gail Stern, says the effort \u201cutilizes the strategic and intentional use of humor to reduce the emotional and cognitive resistance audiences have to the subject of rape.\u201d) The Army has a video game designed to instruct soldiers about the dangers of \u201c<\/span>alcohol-induced date rape<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d The military has also come under criticism for a poster advising servicemembers to \u201c<\/span>Ask When She\u2019s Sober<\/span><\/a><\/span>,\u201d which the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0blasted as a \u201c<\/span>grotesque parody of an etiquette poster<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rape-crisis counselors sometimes advise, like the Air Force brochure does, that there are<\/span>\u00a0circumstances<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0whereby fighting back against an assailant is a bad idea. Purchia doesn\u2019t dispute that. \u201cYou can always identify some circumstances,\u201d he said, \u201cbut as a general rule research indicates and it\u2019s generally understood that fighting back often can fend off the attacker and usually does not lead to greater injury.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo any rational person this is completely backwards and shows the scope of epidemic,\u201d Purchia continued. \u201cFundamental reforms are needed \u2014 the reporting, investigation and adjudication of sexual assault must be taken out of the chain of command.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a step that the military has been reluctant to take. At today\u2019s hearing, Welsh and Donley expressed concern that doing so might pose a risk to \u201cgood order and discipline,\u201d as Donley put it. (\u201cThis<\/em>\u00a0is not good order and discipline,\u201d replied Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand of New York.) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel took a more limited step last month by proposing to\u00a0<\/span>prevent commanders from overturning verdicts in criminal cases<\/span><\/a><\/span>, after the general in charge of the Third Air Force<\/span>\u00a0voided a lieutenant colonel\u2019s sexual-assault conviction<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress needs to approve changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice for that to happen. Today, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) introduced a<\/span>\u00a0bill<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0that would \u201crefer cases to the general court martial level when sexual assault charges are filed or to the next superior competent authority when there is a conflict of interest in the immediate chain of command.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This afternoon, the Pentagon will release its annual report on sexual assault prevention and response. Reportedly, it will estimate that there were 26,000 instances of sexual assault \u2014 about 70 per day, as Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) previewed \u2014 up from the 19,000 reported in<\/span>\u00a0last year\u2019s report<\/span><\/a><\/span>. As ThinkProgress\u2019 Hayes Brown noted, only<\/span>\u00a03,374<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0such cases were reported to authorities. The military might be the one hiding under its cars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Update, 4:45 p.m.<\/em>: According to the newly-released report (it\u2019s a<\/span>\u00a0huge<\/span><\/a><\/span>, two-volume .PDF) the Pentagon indeed estimates there were 26,000 incidents of sexual assault over the past year, and 3,374 reported cases of such. Out of those reported cases, 1,174 servicemembers were recommended for \u201ccommand action\u201d \u2014 either judicial or administrative punishment. Of\u00a0those<\/em>, 594 were proffered for criminal charges; and 460 cases have been completed. Thus far, 238 people were convicted of at least one charge of sexual assault. (See page 73 in the first volume for these stats.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Hagel, in a press conference this afternoon, said that \u201cthe frequency of this crime and the perception that there is tolerance of it could very well undermine our ability to effectively carry out our mission, and to recruit and retain the good people we need.\u201d Hagel outlined a number of administrative steps to improve accountability for setting command climates intolerant of sexual assault throughout the military. But Hagel stopped short of removing responsibility for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault from the chain of command, as several members of Congress want.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think taking it away \u2014 the ultimate responsibility away from the military, I think that would just weaken the system,\u201d Hagel said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the door isn\u2019t closed. An independent panel<\/span>\u00a0mandated in the last defense bill passed by Congress<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0will study whether the chain of command ought to be removed in investigating and prosecuting offenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pentagon report found that of active-duty servicewomen who reported experiencing sexual assault to a military authority, only 38 percent said they experienced no form of retaliation. Of the much-larger cohort of active-duty servicewomen who did not report their sexual abuse, 50 percent did not do so because they \u201cdid not think anything would be done\u201d; 51 percent declined to report \u201cdid not think [the] report would be kept confidential\u201d; 47 percent \u201cwere afraid of retaliations\/reprisals from the person(s) who did it or their friends\u201d; 43 percent \u201cheard about negative experiences other victims went through who reported their situation\u201d; 28 percent \u201cthought [their] performance evaluation or chance for promotion would suffer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fully 94 percent of mid-career to senior officers who declined to report their sexual assault \u2014 that is, majors\/lieutenant commanders; lieutenant colonels\/commanders; and colonels\/captains \u2014 did so because they \u201cfelt uncomfortable\u201d making such reports.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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