Conclusion of the special issue on sexual harassment and sexual assault in the US military: What have we learned, and where do we go from here?

ABSTRACT

This article concludes the special issue dedicated to examining the problems of sexual harassment (SH) and sexual assault (SA) in the U.S. military. After reviewing the reasons for devoting a special issue to this topic, we briefly describe the contributions of each article in this special issue. Next, we discuss 3 thematic domains that emerged across these articles with respect to preventing and responding to sexual violence in the military: the benefits of emphasizing the links between different forms of sexual violence within a “continuum of harm” framework; the necessity of considering the role of contextual as well as individual difference factors; and the need for systematic and rigorous empirical research to determine the effects of policy and training initiatives on relevant outcomes. Suggestions for future work on sexual violence prevention and response are provided. We conclude by noting that the military has the opportunity to lead in preventing sexual violence, benefitting not only service members but society as a whole.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual harassment
• sexual assault, U.S. military

Disclaimer

I am a military service member (or employee of the U.S. Government). This work was prepared as part of my official duties. Title 17, U.S.C. §105 provides the “Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government.” Title 17, U.S.C. §101 defines a U.S. Government work as work prepared by a military service member or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties. Report No. 18-23 was supported by the Congressionally Directed Military Research Program under work unit no. N1302. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Department of the Navy, Department of the Army, Department of the Air Force, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.