Sexual harassment and sexual assault are much more common than most would think. Many males and females in the United States Army have difficulties understanding the concept of such behavior. We have become desensitized to this type of behavior. So the question is why do cases of sexual harassment and sexual assault still take place in the army, despite all the training and education we receive? Well studies show that in over the course of the years, the SHARP program that has been introduced to the soldiers, has shown a significant amount of increase of sexual assault/harassment cases. Our trusted leadership has gotten better with knowledge and familiarizing the appropriate steps and action to take when approached by their soldiers with such concerns or issues of their own.
In the year 2016 only 6,172 reports were made of sexual harassment/assault, but the following year later in 2017 there was a rapid growth increase of 579 reports making the report number go up to 6,769 cases. This can mean a variety of things, did more cases of sexual assault/harassment actually take place or did more victims come forward? With how the SHARP program has progressed throughout the years in the military, it is believed that many more victims have felt safer to come forward and open their minds to tell their side of the story. A victim named Lisa Wang a cofounder entrepreneur at collective SheWorx has given a personal interview about her experience, Lisa was caught off guard when a quick random meeting was introduced and didn’t go the way it was intended for. An investor who intentionally approached Lisa Wang for a business purpose only went south.
When the man abruptly grabbed her face trying to kiss her, she was pushing back from the man. In Lisa Wang’s description “We’re sitting at the Starbucks, and he grabs my face and tries to make out with me, and I push him back in surprise, and just didn’t know what to do, because he continued to try again, and was so aggressive.” Lisa Wang didn’t know how to come forward with her story because she didn’t know how to report the incident, as seeing how she isn’t in the service and is only a civilian. I believe that in the military people forget how to approach certain situations when engaging a conversation with male/female. Due to military ranking and structure, you feel pressured not to make eye contact or discussion with one another while in civilians and out of uniform. Soldiers can avoid these type of situations by asking piers if there’s gatherings of single events happening around the area. This will help avoid any contact with certain soldiers who don’t want the attention of a significant other.
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In conclusion of this statement, SHARP is proven to be shown to help certain individuals with their situations. Over time the process for this advance knowledge to be passed around in the military, many more soldiers are tracking what to do and what not to do. As for the victims many more of them are approaching their SHARP representatives with questions on how things can help them feel more confident and safe with going about with pursuing their military career. Even though the number of Sharp cases have gone up, doesn’t necessarily mean the actions are taking place. This means people are more confident with approaching their leadership to resolve their issues or concerns.
