Military men are silent victims of sexual assault

This is another form of sexual violence against men that goes largely unreported and unnoticed:

There is a widespread presumption that most victims of sexual assault in the military services are women. That presumption, however, is false.

In a 2006 survey of active-duty troops, 6.8 percent of women and 1.8 percent of men said they had experienced unwanted sexual contact in the previous 12 months. Since there are far more men than women in the services, that translates into roughly 22,000 men and 14,000 women.

Among women, the number of victims who report their assaults is small. Among men, it is infinitesimal. Last year the services received 2,530 reports of sexual assault involving female victims – and 220 involving male victims.

Cody Openshaw’s story is the focal point of the article:

A few months after his accident, as [Openshaw] was awaiting his medical discharge from the Army, he had been sexually assaulted.

The attack left him physically injured and emotionally shattered. Inhibited by shame, embarrassment, sexual confusion and fear, it took him five years to come forward with the full story.

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After a night on the town with a fellow soldier, his father learned later, Openshaw returned to the barracks and encountered a solicitous platoon sergeant.

His legs were hurting, and the sergeant said, “Let me rub your legs.” Then the contact became violently sexual. Openshaw – drunk, disabled and outranked – was in no position to resist.

The next day the sergeant told him, “Just remember, accidents happen. They can happen to you and to your family. You know, people show up missing.”

Tragically, Cody died once he returned home. He was heavily medicated at the time, and while that may lead some to think suicide, Cody’s father does not believe his son took his own life.

That does not change the drastic nature of what happened to Cody or the situation that faces male victims in the military. According to the article, only 220 instances of sexual assault were reported by men compared to 2,530 female victims. That low number likely does not reflect the actually rate of sexual violence:

According to a 2007 study by a team of VA researchers, a nationwide screening of veterans seeking VA services turned up more than 60,000 with sexual trauma. More than half of those – nearly 32,000 – were men.

This demonstrates the severity of the problem, especially considering how much the military structure itself — with the emphasis on ranks and focus on soldiers ignoring pain, fear and death — can contribute to victims not coming forward and to victims being preyed on to begin with. This is not to say that the military structure is wrong. The problem is that apparently victims, male or female, are not necessarily given the chance to come forward because of the nature of the military environment and perhaps the lack of the commanding officers creating an open environment, something retired rear admiral and chief of Navy chaplains Louis Iasiello noted:

“The command really does set the tone,” he said. “In places where the command set a positive tone and also set a zero tolerance toward this crime, it was very obvious that people felt more comfortable coming forward and reporting an incident and getting the help they needed to begin the healing process.”