Army-SHARP: Battling Sexual Assault and Rape Culture in the Military

Introduction:

This paper will highlight why sexual assault continues to occur in the U.S. Army and how it weakens the organizational morale, why our SHARP program needs to be improved so that it attacks the current toxic military culture of victim blaming, and how “rape culture” plays a major role in several of the occurrences. Due to rape culture being a strong concept within our society, sexual assault is heavily normalized.

Soldiers in the Army often complain about being “sharped to death” due to extensive SHARP briefs. This is because the main causes of sexual assault are not being confronted. Instead of rushing through SHARP briefs and complaining about the excessive training, we need to improve our SHARP program. Until we as an organization attack the problem at its roots, sexual violence will continue to take place in our Army.

Strengthening SHARP:

One of the biggest issues with the SHARP program is that the offenders are rarely fully held accountable. This is due to victim blaming and rape culture. Victim blaming exists as a tool to protect offenders and will continue to keep victims from coming forward about past and future assaults. It is never the victims’ fault, whether alcohol is involved or other circumstances are present. Blaming the victim ensures the comfort of the offender and further persuades them to commit more acts of sexual violence. No matter how many precautions you take, offenders will always find a way.

Confronting Rape Culture:

Rape culture allows for sexual assault and abuse to be normalized. Many individuals often join the Army, retaining values that are parallel with that of rape culture. While we cannot change society, we can influence fellow soldiers and inform them of the harm caused by rape culture to make for a better organization and a better future. Eight percent of rapes occur while the victim is at work (Duhart, 2001).
Sexual violence weakens morale, cripples the organization, and leaves no room for trust among soldiers. We cannot operate successfully as an organization if we cannot trust our comrades to our left and our right not to take advantage of us. This breeds an environment full of toxicity. Such violence hinders leaders from being able to successfully lead soldiers into battle. If we cannot function properly in the rear, then we will not function properly downrange.

Conclusion:

We will not be able to end sexual violence in our Army, but we can ensure that current and future soldiers will be equipped with the knowledge to combat sexual violence. Sexual violence will continue to occur in the military as long as the issue is not addressed at its roots. We say that sexual violence has no place in the Army, but we are failing to make adequate examples out of the individuals who continue to violate Ch. 7 & 8 of AR 600-20.

References

Duhart, D. T. (2001, December). Violence in the Workplace – Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vw99.pdf