•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Since September 11, 2001, criticizing firefighters, the police, or the military seems downright unpatriotic, if not treasonous. The purpose of this article is not to undermine the effectiveness of the U.S. military but to point out a weakness by suggesting that increased awareness of a problem and proposed solutions is one of the first steps toward resolution. It is time for more Americans to become aware of unfair treatment of women within the U.S. military, particularly regarding sexual harassment, so that some of the solutions that experts have proposed can have a chance at implementation and a chance at success, which could only strengthen the effectiveness of the military. An unspoken, unwritten, unofficial aspect of military culture—the “warrior mystique”—keeps the U.S. military from preventing, effectively litigating, and adequately compensating for sexual harassment, Congress should move the response to sexual harassment claims out of the military and into the federal administrative and judicial systems. This Article will discuss how the warrior mystique causes sexual harassment to persist in the military so that the military cannot prevent, effectively litigate, or adequately compensate for sexual harassment and how proposals for Congress to make Title VII protections available to military victims of sexual harassment could help balance some of the damaging effects of the warrior mystique.

Share

COinS