Military must better understand sexual assaults to combat them

Sexual minorities in the U.S. military – lesbian, gay, bisexual and others who don’t identify as heterosexual – represent about 12 percent of the active-duty population. But according to our new research, they account for an estimated 43 percent of those who are sexually assaulted.

This raises critical questions for the Pentagon as it tries to reduce the 20,000 sexual assaults in the ranks each year: Do military leaders know that most sexual assaults don't involve men seeking nonconsensual sex from women? A significant portion may look more like hazing, bullying or hate crimes. And yet these have not been the focus of policy discussions or assault-prevention training materials used by the military.

It's true that individual women in the services face a much greater risk of sexual assault – about seven times higher – than men do. But arousal or sexual intent isn't required for a sexual assault charge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Instead, many of these nonconsensual violations, such as “oil checks” or “teabagging,” are meant to harm, humiliate or debase the victim. These demeaning attacks are especially common among the assaults on men and are more likely to involve injuries and threats of violence.