title: US Advising Soldiers to Be ‘Less Masculine’ as Military Tries to Curb Flood of Sexual Harassment Cases
text: 170619-N-AA175-092..SAN DIEGO (June 19, 2017) Command Master Chief (Ret.) Kathleen Henson, from Midland, Mich.,, center, and USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Sailors cut a cake during the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month observance. Makin Island is homeported in San Diego. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Zeak   Published at Wikicommons)21st Century Wire says While military forces are fighting one enemy in the theatre of combat, another multi-front culture war is also being fought within their institutions. According to a recent report in Military.com, US military lawyers have begun speaking about how sexual assault cases are flooding the military courts   threatening to break the back of the military s legal system, and perhaps radically alter the institutional culture.After the release of the documentary,  The Invisible War,  the issue of sexual assault in the military has again been thrust into the national spotlight, claiming that 1 in 5 U.S. female veterans have sustained some form of sexual assault.The issue of sexual assault in the US military first rose to national prominence in 1992 with the emergence of the infamous  Tailhook Scandal. One likely reason for this new spike in reported cases could be because each military service branch has recently implemented new  awareness programs  as well as  sexual assault prevention  campaigns   which actively encourage female troops to report anything they might feel constitutes sexual harassment or a constitutes a sexual assault.This also comes at a time where the US military has undergone the gradual process of becoming more  gay friendly  in order to advance  issues of equality  and to cater for its growing ranks of LGBT service men and women.Military.com explains how the new liberal progressive agenda may be adversely affecting operations: Military lawyers said the Pentagon leadership has the right intentions, but these prevention campaigns have flooded military court rooms with so many sexual assault cases, it s made it harder to prosecute guilty sexual predators.Prosecutors lack witnesses or strong evidence in the majority of cases, making it hard to yield a conviction, said Michael Waddington, a military defense lawyer and former judge advocate in the Army. He sees too many cases that involve alcohol and depend on hearsay.The military has the resources to take many sexual assault cases to court, said Philip Cave, a military defense lawyer and retired Navy lawyer. Waddington estimated that ninety percent of the sexual assault cases taken to court-martial would be thrown out in a civilian court because of a lack of evidence.As a result, the military are now trying various other different initiatives to try and cope with a problem which to have spun out of control.RT International reports Promoting empathy and cracking down on hypermasculinity may help the Department of Defense to reduce unwanted sexual behavior and improve combat readiness, a new government report on sexual violence in the military says.Unwanted sexual behaviors   such as sexual harassment, sexual assault, and domestic violence    undermine core values, unit cohesion, combat readiness, and public goodwill, says the report, published this month by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and signed by Brenda Farrell, director of defense capabilities and management.The report pointed out that  interconnected, inappropriate behaviors  are part of a  continuum of harm  that creates a climate conducive to sexual harassment, assault and violence. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2017 expanded the definition of sexual harassment in the military beyond sex discrimination, to make it  an adverse behavior on the spectrum of behavior that can contribute to an increase in the incidence of sexual assault.  Both the Pentagon and the separate service branches have yet to update their policies to reflect this new definition, the GAO found.The report also urged the Pentagon to incorporate the guidelines for preventing and dealing with sexual violence developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The Pentagon is ignoring risk factors identified by the CDC such as  alcohol and drug use, hypermasculinity, emotionally unsupportive family environments, general tolerance of sexual violence within the community, and societal norms that support male superiority and sexual entitlement,  the report says.NEWPORT, R.I. (Oct. 29, 2010) Gunnery Sgt. Duncan Hurst encourages an officer candidate to properly perform pushups during the first week of the 12-week Officer Candidate School at Naval Station Newport. Hurst is one of 12 Marine Drill Instructors who train the candidates in military bearing, discipline, drill and physical fitness. (U. S. Navy photo by Scott A. Thornbloom/Released). Also ignored by the DoD are protective factors such as  emotional health and connectedness, and empathy and concern for how one s actions affect others. CDC s research has also established that survivors of one form of violence are more likely to be victims of other forms of violence, that survivors of violence are at higher risk for behaving violently, and that people who behave violently are more likely to commit other forms of violence,  the GAO report notes, apparently seeking to make a distinction between violence in authorized military conflict and personal violence.Noting that the DoD instructed the services in 2014 to develop mechanisms for reporting incidents of sexual harassment anonymously, the GAO said that such mechanisms are not yet part of the department-wide sexual violence policies.Additionally, each service branch uses a different database format to record formal complaints of sexual harassment   the Navy uses Excel spreadsheets, for example. While the GAO does not go as far as to recommend a single database, the report does advocate  improving and standardizing data collection  so that the Department of Defense can  further develop its understanding of the connection between unwanted sexual behaviors. Having a single standard across service branches would also be helpful, the GAO report says, noting that the US Marine Corps (USMC) updated its standards of conduct in May. The USMC made the change in response to the  Marines United  scandal, where current and former members posted nude photos of female recruits in a Facebook group, along with disparaging comments. While the Marines now consider posting nude photos of others without consent to be harassment, other service branches do not as of yet.The GAO report comes at a time of renewed interest in sexual harassment in the US. Accusations of improper behavior have forced a number of Hollywood celebrities, media executives and members of Congress to resign or be removed from public life.In 2015, the Obama administration lifted restrictions on having women in combat roles and set a deadline for allowing openly transgender troops to serve. In July this year, President Donald Trump said he would not allow transgender people to serve  in any capacity,  citing  tremendous medical costs and disruption  to the military. The matter is currently being fought over in the courts.So far, only men are required to register for potential draft ( Selective Service ) under US law. Attempts to expand the requirement to women have failed to get enough votes in Congress.See more at RTREAD THE FULL US GOV T G.A.O. REPORT HEREIn addition to new measures meant to mitigate the rise in sexual assault claims, general dictates on gender neutral language are also being rolled out apparently to protect vulnerable minority members of the armed service from being offended or  triggered.  This institutional trend is not limited to the US, as the institutional march of political correctness and its weaponization of gender identity politics is making its way through Great Britain s armed forces too   where phrases such as  mankind ,  chaps  and  sportsmanship  have now been banned.The UK Mail Online says:  The guide suggests the word  chaps  be swapped for the words  people ,  friends ,  folks  or  you all . The phrase  gentleman s agreement  has also be banned. Now, soldiers must use the term  unwritten agreement . Instead of  sportsmanship  members of the force are encouraged to say  fairness .     The two-page guide was compiled by the Joint Equality Diversity and Inclusion unit   which has earned the nickname of Jedi. Many LGBT servicewomen believe the US military is  too male-oriented  (Image: Pinterest).As pc cleric cluture takes over the military s management through the leveraging of radical progressive power-politics, people should be aware that this tactic actually designed to break down existing institutions and rearrange the internal power structure.It s no surprise then why the Russians are resisting Soros-funded political colonization in their country, which Moscow has correctly identified as subterfuge   through the clear exploitation of these culture and gender war battle lines. ImageQuestion: How will the US and UK armed forces be run in 10 years, if this socialized agenda is fully rolled out?READERS PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS BELOWREAD MORE CULTURAL MARXIST NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Cultural Marxism FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE   SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV