The Persistence of Sexual Assault within the U.S. Military.

What accounts for the puzzling persistence of sexual assault of both women and men within the ranks of the US military? ... Drawing on recent analysis of rape as a practice rather than a strategy of war, [the authors] suggest the answer lies in the socialization not only of recruits but also of officers. [They] draw on an original typology of socialization processes and analysis of four well-documented cases to suggest the following account of why sexual assault persists. First, informal socialization processes...trivialize sexual harassment and assault, establish assault as an appropriate form of punishment...and license retaliation against victims who report. Second, officers sometimes sexually harass and assault subordinates, thereby endorsing similar acts by servicemembers under their command. Third, formal socialization processes of enlisted men and women, despite recent reforms, continue to reproduce a masculinity that undermines policies that seek to prevent sexual assault, in part because it fails to override these unauthorized and illegal socialization processes. Finally, the socialization of officers, combined with problematic incentive structures, undercuts efforts to end the de facto tolerance of sexual abuse by many officers. [Author]