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Fellow Academy Women,
In this time of war, the realities of military service are becoming very real and strengthening the need for our organization.
The 2006 Service Academy Gender Relations Survey was recently released. This survey assesses the incidence of sexual assault and harassment and related issues at USMA, USNA and USAFA. The results of this survey also reinforce the need for our mission. West Point had the highest levels of unwanted sexual contact (10.5% vs. 8.2% and 9.5% for USNA and USAFA respectively); sexual harassment (60% vs. 52% and 51%); crude/offensive behavior (84% vs. 78 and 71); unwanted sexual attention (51% vs. 39 and 40); and sexist behavior (89% vs. 86 and 79).
Of those women who were the victims of unwanted sexual contact, only 15% from USMA, 18% from USNA and 5% from USAFA reported this unwanted contact to authorities. Most indicated that they felt uncomfortable reporting the incident, felt they could deal with the incident themselves, felt embarrassed or ashamed, did not want to become the object of others’ gossip and/or did not feel the incident was important enough to report.
Overall, these rates have declined and the overall assessment validates improvements in the sexual assault education and training programs of the academies. In general, more men and women indicate that sexual assault and sexual harassment have become less of a problem than in 2005. Also, the majority of cadets and midshipmen report that they have received awareness and prevention training, and that this training was effective.
Progress has been made and the academies’ leadership remains fully committed to an environment of respect and dignity for every cadet and midshipman, but it is obvious there is much work to do towards ensuring that the only acceptable level for these incidents is zero. We
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