Student Post - "Wait Until She's Sober": Pentagon Official on Sex Crimes

The military is launching a new crusade against sexual assault. The campaign, which comes after a reported 25% increase in sexual assault in combat zones, advises soldiers to “ask her when she’s sober.” Last week the director of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, Dr. Kaye Whitley, released a statement that pitched “bystander intervention” to help curb sexual assaults. This prompted a response from Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-Rochester) expressing shock at the statement made by Dr. Whitley. From the NY Daily News:

"This woman is not in the right line of work," Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-Rochester) said of the statement last week by Dr. Kaye Whitley, director of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

Whitley's bizarre quote came as she released the military's annual report on sex assault, which showed a 25% increase in combat zones, including 22 cases in Afghanistan and 143 in Iraq.
In pitching "bystander intervention" to curb attacks and harassment, Whitley gave this example: "If you see one of your buddies serve drinks to somebody to get them drunk, maybe what you do is step in and say 'Why don't you wait until she's sober?'

Slaughter was aghast. "I was really shocked anyone would say a thing like that," she said.
In effect, Whitley was telling the troops to "go after her when she's sober - that says she's fair game," added Slaughter, who sponsored the legislation that required the military to report annually on sex assaults and its efforts to curb them.

In a written response to The News, Whitley said Slaughter did not "hear the statement in the context of the overall prevention strategy of the Department."

The statement came from a poster in a military marketing campaign called "Our Strength is for Defending" that is aimed at prevention, Whitley said.

The poster reads: "My Strength is for Defending, so when I saw that she was drunk, I told him, 'Ask her when she's sober.' Preventing sexual assault is part of my duty."

Whitley's annual report showed that the number of sex assaults in the 1.4 million-member active-duty military increased 8% to 2,908 in the year ending in September 2008.

In the abstract I think that the idea behind this program has a good message. If a guy sees another guy (or a girl sees another girl) trying to take advantage of an intoxicated person it’s not a bad idea to go over and say, “hey buddy take it easy because I think she/he is drunk and may not know what is going on”. No one should want their fellow soldier to get into a situation where they can be accused of sexual assault, or commit sexual assault. On the other hand, this is an odd approach in that it seems to advocate pursuing a sexual relationship with another soldier as long as neither party is intoxicated. The policy also does not seem to address any situations aside from a male on female assault scenario. It does not seem to address the situation of male on male, female on male or female on female sexual assault situations. It is a sad circumstance that sexual assaults have risen in combat zones, but I’m not sure if this new campaign is the answer to the problem.

Comments

[eAdvocate]

This is an especially good post in that it raises the issue in the public sector who would be voting on bills to prevent this in Congress.

Right now there is a related bill in Congress HR 840, while I'm not sure it covers this specific topic, maybe folks could suggest changes so that it would include this topic. Or, ask the bill sponsor to sponsor another bill to cover this specifically.

HR 840: Title: To reduce sexual assault and domestic violence involving members of the Armed Forces and their family members and partners through enhanced programs of prevention and deterrence, enhanced programs of victims services, and strengthened provisions for prosecution of assailants, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [NY-28] (introduced 2/3/2009)

On Thomas: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.00840:

[Jimbino]

So what the hell is wrong with advocating "pursuing a sexual relationship with another soldier as long as neither party is intoxicated"? Repeat to yourself 50 times: "Consensual sex is good."

[Daniel]

Jimbino.

I think the message is awkwardly phrased (egad, that's a poster message? Most people don't read three words on a poster.) But I agree with its intent. I think it could have been more adroitly handled. But Slaughter is also out of line for pouncing on the easy prey. She should be offering constructive criticism rather than shooting her mouth off. Sorry, I know all about her and I don't like her.