1LT Private RallyPoint Member 3417097 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div> 2018-03-05T12:00:17-05:00 1LT Private RallyPoint Member 3417097

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>

2018-03-05T12:00:17-05:00 2018-03-05T12:00:17-05:00 SSG Jessica Bautista 3417112

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Short answer: yes.

2018-03-05T12:03:26-05:00 2018-03-05T12:03:26-05:00 SFC Kelly Fuerhoff 3417137

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I was raised by four brothers and basically single dad - I&#39;ve always been a tomboy and more comfortable around guys. But when I first came in, I did try to be like &quot;one of the guys&quot; to avoid harassment or any of that. Now I wish I hadn&#39;t. No one should have to do that to get respect. I still got sexually harassed and one time a so called friend sexually assaulted me (not rape). <br /><br />Now I honestly don&#39;t care. If someone is going to just look at me differently because I have a vagina that&#39;s their problem. Not mine.

2018-03-05T12:07:37-05:00 2018-03-05T12:07:37-05:00 1LT Private RallyPoint Member 3417215

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>When I arrived at my first unit, I was immediately getting followed and harassed to where I had no choice but to report. There was one person who would follow me to my car and would stop me at night at the barracks when I would go to my car. <br />I started wearing big uniforms, I never wore makeup anyways but now I definitely wouldn&#39;t let anyone see me outside of uniform. I even started to change my voice. Speaking in a lower, more masculine tone. Now, I have a male haircut. I cut all my hair off because (unfortunately) most people think I am a lesbian and leave me alone. It shouldn&#39;t have to be this way.<br />Lastly, there are still men in my unit that don&#39;t even pay attention if I say something. They will literally ask my male peer the same question that I answered just to confirm. It got to the point where my supervisor would let people know to ask me. <br />One example, I was running a land nav course. My BN CMD came out to observe. I was at the start point monitoring radio traffic with the male medic. BN CMD went straight to him and ignored me completely. They asked him questions he couldn&#39;t answer. I was really upset. I told the CMD CSM and BN CDR that &quot;If you would have asked me first, the person who coordinated the entire training, I would have been able to save you some time.&quot; They seemed completely lost that a female organized and taught land nav.

2018-03-05T12:31:18-05:00 2018-03-05T12:31:18-05:00 SFC Corey Chipman 3417230

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>SSG Owens,<br /><br />That is a very good question and interesting to hear you ask it. I am a retired Infantryman but an HR professional and I am school trained in Anthropology. I mention that because I have crafted research around female participation in the internal cultural of our military here in the United States. I was married to a CW2 (she still serves but started out as an Army E1) and I used her and her network of enlisted and military officers for many of the observed topics I have researched.<br /><br />A majority of successful women in the military (NOT ALL) I have spoken to whom serve have done two things for various reasons, but essentially have executed to have an overall &quot;better&quot; experience during their service. Both are behavioral changes like you mention but address two challenges:<br /><br />1. To lessen unwanted behaviors from male counterparts and to be treated as an equal: Many change behavior to conform to military life in an attempt to lesson the impact of the cultural norms of male-female interactions and behavior. Specific ways of doing that (act, talk, wear a uniform) vary but essentially I hear the same thing from many women so they will be seen as an equal.<br /><br />2. Conform to normal behaviors that involve male bonding to be treated as an equal. - This one is a bit tricky to define but essentially more women in the military &quot;act&quot; more like men in an effort to be treated as an equal within a male dominated culture. Again, this change in behavior and both for that matter are attempts to gain equality in the armed forces.<br /><br />Keep in mind that these observations were made within an objective, anthropological view. Reasons for changes in behavior vary but essentially these have been some of the more common behavior modifications that I hear over and over again. I am not interested in the political views of &quot;women in the military&quot;, just the observances of those involved and what can potentially drive changes in behavior among female service members.<br /><br />I hope you hear many more responses from your female counterparts in the armed services. There is a lot of good research out there (and SO MUCH MORE needed) you can look up.<br /><br />Good Luck!

2018-03-05T12:34:08-05:00 2018-03-05T12:34:08-05:00 MAJ Private RallyPoint Member 3417235

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Both sad and wise advise depending on the behavior. Any Soldier acting respectfully, within regulation, and UCMJ parameters should be free from any and all hostile work environments. <br />how you act and talk can certainly be changed to best suit your environment, but I cannot see how you &quot;wear the uniform so as to not draw attention to yourself.&quot; The uniform is what the uniform is per AR 670-1, if you are getting harassed because of wearing your uniform this needs to be reported to either the chain of command or to the IG if your chain is part of the issue. No Soldier should ever feel threatened because of adhering to AR 670-1. If you care to expound a bit likely you&#39;ll get some more helpful responses, especially as all of us know that there are terrible units out there and some very despicable predators within and outside our ranks.<br />Wish you the best.

2018-03-05T12:35:06-05:00 2018-03-05T12:35:06-05:00 SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth 3417277

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>The female service members that I served with wore their uniforms by the regs.

2018-03-05T12:44:50-05:00 2018-03-05T12:44:50-05:00 Lt Col Jim Coe 3417306

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div><a class="dark-link bold-link" role="profile-hover" data-qtip-container="body" data-id="1346405" data-source-page-controller="question_response_contents" href="/profiles/1346405-lt-col-charlie-brown">Lt Col Charlie Brown</a>: I&#39;d like to see your input on this question from the Air Force point of view. I think it may be different from our Army friends&#39; experiences, but maybe not. As a male USAF officer, I always tried to treat female airmen with respect and equality. I probably didn&#39;t always succeed.

2018-03-05T12:54:52-05:00 2018-03-05T12:54:52-05:00 SPC David Willis 3417314

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>As an infantryman my day to day dealings with female soldiers were minimal so I have very little experience with how they&#39;re treated. I also have never consciously needed to think about how ACUs made my ass look or how my voice sounded. Not to mention I probably just wouldn&#39;t recognize sexism as much as a female would but it is sad this is even a question that needs to be asked. I hope with all the Hollywood scandals coming out and politicians facing the fire if change will start to trickle down to private industry and the military.

2018-03-05T12:56:44-05:00 2018-03-05T12:56:44-05:00 MSgt Private RallyPoint Member 3417399

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>It is a way of looking at things. To me I am a setvice member who happens to be female NOT a female service member. The same goes for my civilian job which is mostly men. I am an engineer that happens to be female not a female engineer. I don’t let the fact that I am female be the dominating force of my identity. I am female. I have always been female. My husband knows that I am not a typical girly girl. My kids know it too. Don’t let one part of you define the whole of you you are as a person! Most men I’ve worked with have been great. Occasionally someone will get a bit over the line and I tend to deal with it then and there. I think we are more governed by our temperament/ personality types than our gender. My uniform is more towards the baggy side of things. When I am at drill or activated I do my job and work to be the best inspector possible. When supervising young airmen I treat them all the same. I value competence above any perceived “group identity”.

2018-03-05T13:20:55-05:00 2018-03-05T13:20:55-05:00 LT Brad McInnis 3417418

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>My ex-wife was a fellow Navy Officer. She didn&#39;t do anything drastic like changing her voice or cutting her hair (read your response farther down). She did tuck her uniform shirts a little different to hide her figure. She never wore makeup as she didn&#39;t need it. Wish she, you, or any other woman, didn&#39;t feel the need to do that. I would like to say that time will solve this, but it really has been long enough. I will say that one of the things I found interesting, was my wife was part of a women&#39;s SWO group (Navy officer MOS equivalent) that was led by a female Admiral. They met regularly, had a newsletter, and they had a support group members could tap into when there were problems. It is hard to always be the one bringing up problems, it was nice to have an outsider do it for you... Don&#39;t know if there is anything like that in the Army.

2018-03-05T13:27:48-05:00 2018-03-05T13:27:48-05:00 LTC Jeff Shearer 3417781

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Kellie I did not work with lots of females SM&#39;s but the ones I did were very professional. I did work with some female members of different agencies and they were very professional as well. I guess I am not the best person to answer this.

2018-03-05T15:43:40-05:00 2018-03-05T15:43:40-05:00 LTC Private RallyPoint Member 3417857

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Hopefully we all act in manner to “not draw artension to ourselves” and behave in a manner respectful of the inform we wear and the service we perform for this great country

2018-03-05T16:10:22-05:00 2018-03-05T16:10:22-05:00 PO1 Brian Austin 3417904

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Yes, i saw it before i retired 14 yrs ago. Knew some that did. Resorted to no make up, unflattering <br /> (within regs) hairstyles, wearing uniforms maybe a size too big to &quot;unflatter&quot; their figure. It is a sad state of affairs that females would have to resort to that in our military.

2018-03-05T16:27:55-05:00 2018-03-05T16:27:55-05:00 LCDR Private RallyPoint Member 3417975

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I suppose I&#39;ll take the contrarian view...respectfully, of course.<br /><br />I&#39;m not by any means a &quot;hedonist&quot;, but I&#39;ve yet to come across an official U.S. military uniform for females I&#39;d call &quot;provocative&quot; or &quot;revealing&quot;. I admit that as a single officer, I found female Marine dress uniforms more &quot;flattering&quot; than most...and have no shame in admitting it. I think it is somewhat impossible to expect members of the opposite sex, male or female, to simply &quot;not notice&quot; someone they find attractive...what matters is how they act upon it both ethically and legally.<br /><br />I had female officer peers who were extremely attractive to me who I can honestly state I appreciated for their individual competencies every bit as much as (if not more than) their &quot;looks&quot;. The demands of maintaining professionalism and discipline said all that need be said on how to act. One of the finest navigators I ever worked with was a female officer, and I know a simply lethal naval tactical aviator who could easily win most so-called &quot;beauty contests&quot;. I of course noticed similarly attractive, equally competent female enlisted...but owing to regulations and ethics, &quot;averted my eyes&quot; even more so to speak.<br /><br />When someone crosses the line between noticing and harassing, the command, the service and the service members themselves should uphold the regulations of the services in defense of each other.

2018-03-05T16:52:47-05:00 2018-03-05T16:52:47-05:00 Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth 3418175

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I have seen and heard female service members change their look like you said by wearing bigger uniforms no make up, haircuts etc. I always wondered why. You are a female and shouldn&#39;t make any excuses for that. If guys can&#39;t stop staring then that is their fault. You do your job, wear your uniform proudly according to regulations, and move out. Stop them in their tracks when things get out of hand or they are looking or making inappropriate comments etc. Don&#39;t ever apologize for your gender...boneheads will be boneheads.

2018-03-05T17:59:22-05:00 2018-03-05T17:59:22-05:00 CAPT Kevin B. 3418585

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Saw it plenty of times in my 32 year career. A great variety of actions, reactions, stressors, etc. can cause women to make changes as a defensive action. Sometimes it&#39;s cultural. When I was building Khmer Rouge defector camps, I got some support from an Army Engineer Battalion. It was hot out as usual. The female Ops Boss could be best characterized by having &quot;Disney Preferred&quot; attributes. She came out in a T Shirt and all the RCAF soldiers couldn&#39;t connect the dots. They couldn&#39;t believe she was an officer, let alone the Ops Boss, who in this instance was their boss too. Unfortunately, she had to wear a BDU top the rest of the time just so she could do her job and get them to do theirs. We both laugh about it now, but that laugh does have a bit of sadness to it. One thing I learned from this and prior experiences. This stuff leaves scars.

2018-03-05T20:35:19-05:00 2018-03-05T20:35:19-05:00 CW3 Jeff Held 3418634

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>21 years - mostly Mech Infantry. There were females in support units we had frequent contact with. Never noticed any of them doing anything different to minimize their obvious femininity. In fact, they were very much like the guys and would ground their OD shirts or BDU ‘blouses’ on hot days. No one made a fuss; we were all too busy doing our jobs to goof around. Of course I would have crunched some skulls if my guys got stupid in a no-stupid zone.

2018-03-05T20:56:00-05:00 2018-03-05T20:56:00-05:00 Lt Col Charlie Brown 3418905

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Sorry to be late weighing in on this as I have been tagged several times. I served active duty for 22 years. Had some senior officers who couldn&#39;t or wouldn&#39;t behave but they were largely replaced by better folks the longer I was in. That isn&#39;t to say I didn&#39;t still see the occasional seriously stupid behavior or hear totally inappropriate stuff but it sermed to be on a generally positive trajectory. <br />When I started out, my career field didn&#39;t have women (on the airlift side) and so we were a novelty. We mostly learned to laugh about it. <br />I was born and raised in NYC where you learn to defend yourself or you don&#39;t survive so pushing back came pretty naturally to me. I have been out for 17 years so I can&#39;t speak to today&#39;s environment. <br />

2018-03-05T22:36:12-05:00 2018-03-05T22:36:12-05:00 Lt Col Charlie Brown 3418909

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>As for the Army versus Air Force, I did spend time in a joint billet and I was daily thankful not to have chosen to go into the Army. There were some good folks but the attitude of the senior officers was as obnoxious as any I had ever come across.

2018-03-05T22:39:20-05:00 2018-03-05T22:39:20-05:00 Lt Col Charlie Brown 3418915

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I was in the medical field Before I went in the service and in the school system after I retired from the military. Stupid and inappropriate does not confine itself to uniforms or sex, race or religion. It comes in all kinds.

2018-03-05T22:43:05-05:00 2018-03-05T22:43:05-05:00 SMSgt Lawrence McCarter 3419200

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>i wouldn&#39;t put up with any of that harassment against My Wife, daughter, daughter in law etc. I wouldn&#39;t do that to some someone else&#39;s wife, daughter, daughter in law etc. What I expect from any workers is to perform their assigned duties, if they do that We have no problem. I have no tolerance for any harassment of anyone I work with or is under My supervision, that&#39;s not a team concept at all. If You want respect You also have to give respect.

2018-03-06T00:32:29-05:00 2018-03-06T00:32:29-05:00 SPC Brian Mason 3419368

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>If you don&#39;t mind me saying anything.<br />I hope not. We each had/have our own experience in everything we do. I&#39;m sure most of us don&#39;t crave and flaunt ourselves, many prefer not being targets. After I moved back home in late 2007, was called names and stereotypes were thrown by narrow-minded people who had little idea how the military works.<br />I know that treatment all around for our female warriors is sorely lacking. As a Medic, I&#39;m not the top-of-the line person to go to for certain issues, but I can listen and do something. People who go through similar things like police, fire, EMS, and Veterans are there. I hope none of you are ashamed or whatever for the choice you made in joining. If you prefer to be low-key, I&#39;m sure you have your reasons.

2018-03-06T02:37:59-05:00 2018-03-06T02:37:59-05:00 Genevieve Walters 3420296

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Looks like you have some great input here. As a civilian, I would add, that this is common for women in the workforce to try to adapt as well. You are not alone in this!

2018-03-06T10:45:31-05:00 2018-03-06T10:45:31-05:00 SGT Dave Tracy 3421039

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Not being a woman myself--shocking, yes I know--so I can&#39;t speak from personal experience, but I believe I have seen self-limiting behavior. Not when I was an Active Duty Grunt as there weren&#39;t too many women around me to notice such behavior, but when I went into the Reserves and was around more women in uniform. <br /><br />It wasn&#39;t that their femininity was self-denied in front of everyone, as much as it seemed &quot;suppressed&quot;. Not a value-judgement, just an observation. It was especially noticeable with those who I was/am Facebook friends with. When they post online, I could really see there was a military side and a civilian (i.e. more feminine) side to these ladies. The delineation was far more evident than with guys.

2018-03-06T14:56:32-05:00 2018-03-06T14:56:32-05:00 CPT Private RallyPoint Member 3421101

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I don&#39;t think this is only applicable to females only. My demeanor at work is not the same as that when I&#39;m not at work. I&#39;m very easy going and laid back. But this wouldn&#39;t be professional at work. Even a male can attract unwanted attention. I won&#39;t go into detail but this happens one of two ways. First, if the soldier is much to casual to another to the point of personal friendship is the intent or if the other soldier is much too casual and had outside friendship as the intent. I have few counterparts of the opposite sex but of those I try to keep it professional. An example is using your work email instead of texting or going to lunch as a group instead of one on one. Now, I&#39;m sure that issues will still arise. We are not a perfect Army. But we must be cautious about our interactions and reactions. If someone was to say &quot;be careful if SGT Smith because he will try to flirt with you&quot; then the unit is failing to address such behavior. We shouldn&#39;t have to act anything other than professional.

2018-03-06T15:20:37-05:00 2018-03-06T15:20:37-05:00 MSG Private RallyPoint Member 3422533

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>As a former IG, I was part of an inspection on SHARP. Some of the findings were as expected and others were a little surprising. The hypersensitivity that the seemingly never-ending SHARP classes every quarter, actually created an environment where both male and female Soldiers did not know how to communicate with each other for fear of being brought up on some sort of SHARP violation. It is truly sad how Soldiers feel the need to change who they are for fear of bringing attention to themselves. This goes both way for both males/females. Gay/straight are not immune to this behavior either. I have 2 daughters that I would never want to join the military because I have seen how difficult it can be for them. The golden rule should always apply, regardless of your background. Can&#39;t we all just get along and treat each other with dignity and respect? I guess our society hasn&#39;t gotten that far, and probably never will. I truly believe this type of behavior has gotten and will continue to get worse with the advent of social media. Now the pervs don&#39;t even have to be near you to cause harm. I wish that nobody had to feel the need to change who they are to succeed not only in the military but life as well. Its just a shame.

2018-03-07T04:19:10-05:00 2018-03-07T04:19:10-05:00 CPL Jay Freeman 3425870

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I know one female who shaved her head and wore 2 sports bras to look more like a guy so as not to get hit on. It didn&#39;t work to well. I spotted her struck up a conversation with her on a friend level.

2018-03-08T02:04:13-05:00 2018-03-08T02:04:13-05:00 CPL Jay Freeman 3425882

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I do feel bad for female service members we where on a F.O.B with 10 women and 500 men the women where escorted by 2 guys most of the time as to 1 prevent rape and 2 try to prevent harrasment.

2018-03-08T02:11:36-05:00 2018-03-08T02:11:36-05:00 MSG Private RallyPoint Member 3483683

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>SSG Owens, that&#39;s an excellent question and it&#39;s a shame that we&#39;re having this type of discussion STILL. You should never accept responsibility for the behavior of others. That&#39;s THEIR problem. If you&#39;re treated other than the professional you are, then handle each situation accordingly. <br /><br />As for attention...all attention is not bad. My attitude when going to a meeting or gathering of other professionals, I want someone to remember me and know who I am. I want to have an impact on the discussion, whatever it is. I was in a meeting with senior leadership and a visiting CSM with her assistant. I told my SFC that she WILL participate, as shy as she was, and say SOMETHING during this meeting. When she didn&#39;t, I directed a comment to her and she had no choice. I highly encourage you to be memorable. Continue to be your best Soldier self and beat all naysayers. That&#39;s a distraction that takes way too much brain power. I hope this answer is helpful.

2018-03-26T13:36:53-04:00 2018-03-26T13:36:53-04:00 SPC Patricia K. (Williams) Elliott 3545195

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Served 11 years in the Army and had a problem twice with boneheads that couldn&#39;t grasp the idea of &quot;females&quot; in the Army. Both were NCO&#39;s and once I put them in their place didn&#39;t have anymore problems. I wore my uniform with great pride and being a female in uniform gave me even more pride in what I was doing and where I was! Never tried to hide the fact that I was a woman by changing who I was. I knew that discrimination and sexual harassment was there but never really witnessed it or was affected by it. I guess I was one of the lucky ones!!

2018-04-15T10:01:40-04:00 2018-04-15T10:01:40-04:00 SPC Patricia K. (Williams) Elliott 3545225

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I grew up with the following words ringing in my ears...Never be ashamed of who you are! Those words carried me through 11 years in the Army where I wore the uniform proudly and was proud of being a woman in that uniform. I can think of only two times where I had a problem and once they were addressed never had a problem again. I realized that there was discrimination and sexual harrassment incidents happening but was never really affected by them or had the desire to change myself to fit in. We all wore green and that&#39;s all that mattered.

2018-04-15T10:10:45-04:00 2018-04-15T10:10:45-04:00 SFC Carlos Cruz 3548731

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>My recommendations is the you as a SSG need to educate yourself as what SHARP is used for, how to employ it when it comes to sexual harassment. All installations had civilian &amp; military personnel to provide you some guidance on how to stop this abuse because if no one stop it it will continue therefore you must take the lead. When in fort Bragg we had shut harassment as I become a SHARP NCO to stop shut behavior. We had big battles but we where able to enforce the standards to respect &amp; be equally to our female. My SGT became a Jumpmaster as a E5, this one a sign of change.

2018-04-16T14:22:26-04:00 2018-04-16T14:22:26-04:00 CPL Jay Freeman 3572566

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I have seen it first hand she shaved her head and tapped her boobs down.

2018-04-24T11:08:06-04:00 2018-04-24T11:08:06-04:00 CPT Tzvi Mejer 3611451

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>In my opinion you should wear the uniform as per regulations, but allways with pride and keeping in mind that you are a representative of your country.

2018-05-08T19:45:15-04:00 2018-05-08T19:45:15-04:00 CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana 3615467

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Regulation cut, wear, act and perform was the standard with females in my era too. We men were weighed against females all the time for wear and appearance. Many performed like pathfinders in school and readily took on additional administrative responsibilities as well.

2018-05-10T09:23:01-04:00 2018-05-10T09:23:01-04:00 SFC Regina Boyd 3639469

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Why? Be yourself. There&#39;s this thing going around now, &quot;unconscious bias.&quot; Don&#39;t change how you are to accommodate someone else&#39;s expectation of what a &quot;femal service member&quot; should be. You&#39;re a soldier, period.

2018-05-18T13:52:39-04:00 2018-05-18T13:52:39-04:00 SFC Private RallyPoint Member 7115632

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Unfortunately, many males have egos where they think if a female speaks to them and jokes around then she automatically must be into them. Hopefully these guys get the hint eventually one day and learn how to act. I&#39;ve never been one if those guys. I never flirted with a female in or put of the military unless it was absolutely obvious that she was into me. Now I&#39;m married and am extremely faithful as one SHOULD be who is married.

2021-07-17T22:28:32-04:00 2021-07-17T22:28:32-04:00 2018-03-05T12:00:17-05:00