Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/071392/07139927.000

Text File | 1993-04-08 | 6KB | 115 lines

                                                                                THE MILITARY, Page 36

An Officer, Not A Gentleman


Though the battle against sexism is now fully engaged, the war
will be a long one

By JILL SMOLOWE -- With reporting by Nancy Traver/New York and
Bruce van Voorst/Washington


    In the popular idiom of the military world, men are men
and women are "young ladies." That is, until the men get into
trouble for sexually harassing their female colleagues. Then the
men are "boys being boys." And the women? Those who deflect
sexual advances risk being labeled by some men as lesbians, a
threat that can cost a woman her military career. Those who dare
to complain are often branded as "too soft." Such is the
backdrop against which women in the armed forces must determine
whether it is worth registering a complaint when a male
colleague steps out of line. Although a 1990 Pentagon study
found that fully two-thirds of U.S. servicewomen have been
sexually harassed by male military personnel, few file
complaints. The social and professional costs, it would seem,
are often too high.

    Seen in that light, the revelations about lewd shenanigans
at the Tailhook convention of Navy and Marine aviators last
September, which have already cost Navy Secretary H. Lawrence
Garrett III his job, may be a blessing in disguise. Much as race
riots in 1972 led to racial reforms within the Navy, the
Tailhook debacle is prompting a serious campaign to stamp out
sexual harassment. Acting Navy Secretary Daniel Howard last week
ordered a service-wide stand-down so that all personnel can
devote a full day to sexual-harassment training. And on Capitol
Hill four women recounted tales of sexual harassment to a Senate
panel. Jacqueline Ortiz, an Army reservist, told of being
"forcibly sodomized" by Sergeant David Martinez while serving
in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. When she reported the
attack to her superiors, she was ignored. Last week the Army
belatedly charged Martinez with sexual assault.

    The Pentagon brass is now vocally hell-bent for reform.
"Perhaps we can't change your attitude," Army Brigadier General
Thomas Jones told TIME, "but we can darn well change your
conduct." Perhaps not fast enough. The dominant attitude among
naval aviators seems to be that it is not possible to be both
an officer and a gentleman. "Subjecting these guys to classes
in sexual harassment is like telling them not to smoke or
drink," explains Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at
Northwestern University. "You can't oversocialize them because
that might even drive out the best pilots." Some Pentagon
officials fret (anonymously, of course) that curbing Navy
pilots' sexual feistiness will remove the edge they need for
combat. Democrat Patricia Schroeder, a member of the House Armed
Services Committee, responds, "It's possible to be brave and
still repress your roaring testosterone."

    Such problems are hardly unique to the Navy. According to
the 1990 Pentagon study, a higher percentage of women in the
Army and Marine Corps suffer sexual harassment, whether it be
demeaning jokes or violent sexual attacks. Moreover, the Navy
has been progressive on some fronts: it had the first woman
pilot and astronaut, and has named five female admirals. The Air
Force, however, shines by comparison; 97% of its jobs are open
to women, as compared with 59% in the Navy. In the Air Force
culture, all worship at the altar of technology; she who
understands the newest toys largely need not fear harassment.

    The Navy's bad reputation owes much to a string of highly
publicized incidents. In 1987 Pentagon investigators uncovered
"morally repugnant behavior" on a Navy salvage ship cruising the
western Pacific, which included the captain's performing oral
sex on a prostitute in front of his crew. In 1990 a female
midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy resigned after she was
handcuffed to a urinal by male midshipmen. There have also been
reports of rapes and sexual assaults.

    The Navy's shipboard culture breeds sexism. Once a ship is
afloat, the captain is the master of the universe. Women have
little choice but to endure insults. It does not help that women
are still barred from combat ships, and only 8,800 of the
Navy's 58,000 women have landed spots on support ships. Many
enlistees argue that the more women are integrated into the
service, the less sexism there will be. "Working together is
more important than sexual-harassment training," says Senior
Chief Radioman Rusanne Anthony. The Navy's officers also need
to set a better example. "We haven't had leaders who modeled the
proper behavior," says Kay Krohne, a retired Navy commander. "We
have officers who pay lip service, then pinch their secretary's
butt."

    Just as the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings made women
recall their own tales of sexism, so has the Tailhook scandal
made females in uniform question their handling of aberrant
behavior in the past. One Air Force captain recalls overlooking
a minor incident years back. The man got promoted and continued
to bother other women. Now she thinks maybe she should have made
a little noise. An Air Force staff sergeant recalls a military
doctor who used to pat the buttocks and breasts of many female
patients, regardless of their ailment. As for the men, they
stand divided. One Navy ensign has little sympathy. "A lot of
women," he says, "bring it on themselves." Air Force Sergeant
Bradley Ahrensfield, on the other hand, says there is "no
excuse" for such behavior. Officially at least, every man in the
Navy better adopt that attitude if he wants to keep his job.