Reducing sexual harassment and assault reporting stigma at Fort Belvoir

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Reducing the stigma associated with reporting of sexual harassment and assault

To determine the best way to reduce the stigma associated with the report of sexual harassment and sexual assault within the Fort Belvoir Soldiers, Civilian and government contractor personnel. I would like reduce the stigma and eliminate incidents of sexual harassment and assault through awareness and prevention, training and education, victim advocacy, response and bystander intervention training.

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MEMORANDUM FOR FACULTY ADVISOR

Reducing the stigma associated with reporting of sexual harassment and assault

To determine the best way to reduce the stigma associated with the report of sexual harassment and sexual assault within the Fort Belvoir soldiers, civilian and government contractor personnel.

Recommendation: Course of action 1 and 2. Victim advocates should conduct trainings for each group. Group heads will be required to schedule their training based on their calendar of events. Trainings should take a minimum of one (1) week and refreshers run every six (6) months. The group head will coordinate with the sexual assault response coordinator to ensure efficient scheduling. Victim advocates will also provide support to victim and assistance in legal proceedings.

3. Background: Sexual harassment and assault in camps is common in the United States Stockdale, Logan, & Weston, 2009.

The situation is worsened by the stigma associated with reporting these incidents. Some leaders encourage reporting of these stigmas but in some areas this is often neglected leading to proliferation of the stigma. Currently, reforms that focus on prevention through education and training have been proposed.

4. Facts

a. There are channels available to victims of sexual harassment and assault to report and provide medical assistance including counseling. These include the sexual assault response coordinator, military treatment facility, and victim advocate.

b. Victims are assigned victim witness liaisons to handle all legal proceedings involving the case. Criminal military attorneys only provide legal assistance and consultation and do not represent victim.

c. The charter providing prevention and response programs is only for soldiers. Currently the program only provides limited services to government and civilian contractor personnel. The program is also underutilized.

d. All genders face the same risk of sexual harassment Welsh, 1999()

5. Assumptions:

a. Participation in these prevention and response programs is low majorly because of the associated stigma.

b. All government and civilian contractor personnel would like to be included in the prevention and response program.

6. Courses of action

a. Course of action 1. Training and education. Each group within Fort Belvoir should identify a suitable time to attend a one (1) week training and three (3) day refresher after six (6) months of the first training on prevention and reporting of sexual harassment and assault. The group head together with the sexual assault response coordinator should ensure all members of the group attend the training.

b. Course of action 2. Victim advocacy. Victim advocates trained to support victims of sexual harassment and assault should be brought in to offer support and assistance for victims. Advocates should have hotlines that victims can report assault confidentially and be provided with secluded offices for reporting.

c. Course of action 3. Response and bystander intervention training. Trainings should be conducted in a similar fashion as in COA 1 to raise awareness regarding helping behaviors. All personnel should be trained to identify signs of harassment and report it to keep their friends safe. The safety and well-being of others should be considered as well.

7. Criteria.

a. Screening criteria. COA must not take more than half of a battalion at a time. Courses of Action 1, 2, and 3 meet this screening criteria successfully. All three COA promote reporting of sexual harassment and assault.

b. Evaluation criteria.

i. Evaluation criteria 1 (Consistency of reporting). COA must effectively improve consistency of reporting of sexual harassment and assault. Number of reports received must be consistent with number of incidences. The number of reports should also be consistent day after day. COAs with less than 5% variation in number of reports are desirable.

ii. Evaluation criteria 2 (timeliness). COA should encourage personnel to report incidences in a timely fashion. COAs that lead to less time between the incident and the report are better.

iii. Evaluation criteria 3 (conformity with schedules). COA must conform to routine personnel schedules. They should not be required to go outside normal schedules to report incidences Ross & England, 1987.

COAs that reduce chances of other individual noticing the reporting are favorable.

c. Weighting of criteria. Each criterion is weighed equally. Of the three, timelines of reporting and conformity with schedule are most important. These are the best indicators of stigma related to reporting of these incidents. The criterion of consistency is the least favorable because it may be difficult to know the number of incidences at each point in time. In the event of equal comparison between two or more COAs, implementation of both COAs will be evaluated.

8. Analysis.

a. COAs. Screened out.

b. COA 1. Training and education.

i. Advantages. All personnel will be trained. This simplifies implementation since it only requires one training with half-yearly refresher training to be conducted.

ii. Disadvantages. Personnel away on official leave or pass may miss the training reducing the effectiveness. Evidence suggests that trainings alone cannot be effective in bringing objective change to sexual harassment and reporting Peirce, Smolinski, & Benson, 1998()

c. COA 2. Victim advocacy.

i. Advantages. Advocates offer victims information on options available to them. They support decision making of victims and maintain highest level of confidentiality Baugh, 1997()

ii. Disadvantages. Are required by law to report certain types of information to the authorities.

d. COA 3. Response and bystander intervention training.

i. Advantages. Help to prevent incidents actively before they happen thus keeping friends and colleagues safe. It helps to raise awareness on continuum of violence.

ii. Disadvantages. Require the bystander to intervene in the harassment or assault situation, which may put them into trouble as well.

9. Comparison.

a. The method suggested in COA 1 has the ability to increase timeliness of reporting of incidences. However, it requires a supplementary method in order to improve its chances of success. The trainings often can be made to fit the routine since all personnel are at one time required to attend the training. In COA 2, the timeliness can be improved if the victim advocates are located on base and in offices close to majority of the activities. This method requires the feeling trust and confidentiality from the personnel in order to improve reporting. The benefits of this method can be used to supplement COA 1. COA 3 is the least appropriate because it is likely to shift the stigma from the victim to the bystander. With the combination of COA 1 and 2, the prevention and reporting programs for sexual harassment and assault can experienced increased use that will reduce the stigma associated with reporting.