An Officer, Not A Gentleman

By Jill Smolowe

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.

With reporting by Nancy Traver/New York and Bruce van Voorst/Washington