Victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military: Understanding risks and promoting recovery

ABSTRACT

Ultimately, sexual harassment and sexual assault can only be eradicated by understanding and intervening with its perpetrators, however a thorough understanding of victims and their experiences is also crucial. Knowing who victims are—that is, who do perpetrators choose to victimize?—aids in predicting and interrupting perpetration. Knowing about victims’ experiences during and after harassment and assault—that is, how are victims impacted?—is necessary to design effective, sensitive interventions to support their recovery. To assist the field in these efforts, this article reviews what is currently known about risk for experiencing sexual harassment and assault during military service and the issues survivors face in recovery. Particular attention is paid to identifying areas where more study is needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Military sexual harassment
• military sexual assault
• victims
• risk
• recovery

Notes

¹ Mindful of the power of language, we note the field’s longstanding struggle to find language that both honors the victimization inflicted upon an individual and also underscores the strength and resilience involved in his/her survival of that victimization. To balance these issues, in this article, we use the term victim when discussing issues related to an individual being subjected to an experience against his/her will and survivor when discussing issues related to recovery.