




































  Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 46 

In Search of the Arc:  

The Path to Justice for Women in the Military 

 

 Elizabeth Estabrooks  

 

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward jus-

tice.” — Martin Luther, King Jr., 1967  

 

“No, no, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice  

rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” —  

Martin Luther, King Jr., 1963 

  

 Over the past two decades, the epidemic of sexual assault  

(assault, rape, and harassment) in the U.S. military has garnered  

increasing media and legislative attention. While activists and  

survivors have achieved some successes in achieving the passage  

of stronger policies that address military sexual assault, many of  

those changes are recent, and much work remains to be done.  

This paper examines the growth of a social movement over 22  

years and seeks to determine how the social movement against  

military sexual assault contributed to the Department of Defense’s  

shift from promises to action. I challenge social workers  

to examine their responsibility to groups whose voice has been  

silenced or stolen by trauma.  

 

 Although sexual assault, rape, and harassment in the U.S.  

military have only come into sharp public focus in the past year,  

these crimes have grown steadily over the last two decades. This  

increase has incited the Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S.  

Congress to pass zero-tolerance policies, commission studies,  

convene task forces, and hold hearings. Nevertheless, the rate of  

military sexual assault (MSA) has risen annually since 1991,  

growing to such alarming numbers that it is now commonly de-

scribed as an epidemic (Kitfield, 2012; Slaughter, 2010).  

 From 1991 to 2011, responses to MSA by Defense Secre-

taries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates led to many promises  

but little change. Incidents were met with massive media cover-

age, but public attention repeatedly waned between each success- 

sive outrage. In January 2012, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s  



In Search of the Arc 

47 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 

press conference included familiar promises, which, although  

similar to those of his predecessors, laid the groundwork for  

change.  

 Later that spring, Secretary Panetta viewed The Invisible  

War (2012) a powerful documentary portraying the lives and sto-

ries of MSA survivors. With unflinching honesty, this document-

tary tells the story of MSA survivors and provides damning evi-

dence of the U.S. military’s failure to address sexual assault with-

in its ranks. Two days later, Secretary Panetta, under mounting 

pressure from advocacy groups and members of Congress de-

manding codification of stronger policies, took concrete steps to  

move toward protecting service members against MSA. Follow- 

ing decades of little policy change around sexual assault in the  

military, the DoD appeared prepared to enact lasting measures.  

 This paper seeks to determine how the social movement  

against MSA contributed to the DoD’s shift from promises to ac-

tion. I will outline the scope of the problem of MSA and briefly  

review the major public events from 1991 forward, then analyze  

these events in relation to efforts by activists and organizations,  

striving to answer the question: What was the tipping point that  

brought the issue into full view of a nation in a way that catalyzed  

policy change? Movements such as this one develop in response  

to the need of a group or population whose voice has been silenced  

or stolen. I posit that advocacy is a tool that social workers are 

obligated to use in our efforts to help individuals, groups, and  

communities regain their power.  

 

Until Justice Rolls Down Like Water: Problem Background 

 

 According to the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response  

Office (SAPRO) (2012), the most recent report on MSA states  

that there were 3,192 reported MSAs in 2011 in all branches of  

the military, a 1% increase in overall reporting from 2010. A  

2003 survey conducted by Veterans Affairs found that 30% of  

female veterans experienced sexual assault during military ser-

vice. Of this group, 14% had been gang raped and 20% had been  

raped more than once (Hansen, 2005). Given estimates that ap- 

proximately 84% of civilian and military rapes go unreported,  

 



 Estabrooks 

 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 48 

SAPRO (2011) concludes there were close to 19,000 MSAs in  

2010.  

 Hansen (2005) reports that the prevalence of sexual as- 

sault was three to ten times higher for females serving in the  

armed forces than in the general population. Estimates of preva-

lence are in the range of 23% to 33%, and military sexual trauma is 

more associated with PTSD than any other form of trauma, ci-

vilian or military (Himmelfarb, Mintz, & Yaeger, 2006).  

 A 2011 Women’s Research and Education Institute chro-

nology identifies 1979 as the starting point for military guidelines  

covering sexual harassment. However, there is no mention of  

MSA until 1991 when the media broke the Las Vegas Tailhook  

Convention story, where 83 females and 7 males were victims of  

sexual assault by more than 100 Navy and Marine Corps aviation  

officers.  

 The Tailhook incident was the first highly publicized U.S.  

MSA scandal. What followed was months of front-page headlines  

and nightly news reports that shocked the nation, building the  

case that military women were unsafe from our men in uniform.  

The DoD, forced to answer to the taxpayers, was spurred into ac-

tion. Between 1992 and 2003, there were 18 different task forces,  

reports, and committee hearings on sexual assault, discrimination,  

and gender-related issues in the military (Hansen, 2005). Kitfield  

(2012) summarizes the most widely publicized events of the past  

22 years:  

 1996: U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground
1
 

 2003: U.S. Air Force Academy
2
 

 2008: U.S. Marines, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
3
 

 2012: U.S. Marine Barracks, Washington DC
4
 

 2012: U.S. Air Force Lacklund Air Force
5
 

 
1 Twelve Army officers charged with sexually assaulting female trainees 
2 Twelve percent of female graduates reported having been victims of rape or attempted 

rape, and 70% said they had been sexually harassed 
3 Nineteen non-commissioned officers were charged with various harassment and assault 

charges against trainees 
4 Nine women, including two civilians, report sexual harassment, assault and rape from 

2009 – 2010 
5 Thirty-two trainers identified in cases of sexual assault or misconduct with 56 female 

and three male trainees (Christensen, S. 2013) 

 



In Search of the Arc 

49 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 

In November 2003, Congress directed then-Secretary Donald  

Rumsfeld to commission the Defense Task Force on Sexual Har-

assment and Violence at the Military Service Academies, which  

subsequently reported that sexual assault and harassment was  

military-wide and not limited to the academies. The report’s rec-

ommendations included instituting training programs, recruiting  

more (including higher-ranking) women, and revising the Uni-

form Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to address sexual miscon-

duct. Yet without proper guidance for implementation and no ap-

parent follow-up from the DoD for enactment, implementation of 

recommendations did not occur (Lancaster, Jones, & Lipari, 2005).  

 In February 2004, Secretary Rumsfeld commissioned the  

Task Force on Care of Victims of Sexual Assaults. The Task  

Force made more recommendations and spawned yet another task  

force called the Joint Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention  

and Response, “designated as the single point of authority to  

provide direction, a centralized approach, and overarching guid-

ance to sexual assault prevention and response” (Lancaster, Jones,  

& Lipari, 2005, p. 6). Multiple recommendations and policies  

were born from the Joint Task Force, yet more than a decade after  

Tailhook, there remained little measurable progress. The mili-

tary’s own misogynistic culture, which displays continuing hos- 

tile and sexist attitudes toward women (Hansen 2005), may well  

have impeded its progress in policy change and implementation  

regarding MSA.  

 As the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan advanced,  

the U.S. Army faced an ever-growing need for recruits and began  

to relax recruitment standards in order to meet “manning” needs.  

Without addressing clear concerns on the problem of MSA, this  

relaxation of standards allowed waivers for recruits with criminal  

records. According to Lieutenant James McConico (2009), a 2007  

report identified an increase in criminal waivers by 38% from  

2001 to 2007. Stande, Merrill, Thomsen, Crouch, & Milner (2008) 

report that a Naval Health Research Center survey indicated as 

many as 15% of incoming Navy recruits had either committed or 

attempted rape prior to recruitment. The 2011 SAPRO Report 

shows a continued increase in MSA and that repeat offenders 

commit 90% of all assaults (2012). Did the relaxation of recruit-

ment standards, allowing sex offenders into military ranks,  



 Estabrooks 

 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 50 

correlate with the increase in the rate of sexual assault? This is an  

area for further study in order for policy makers to understand the  

need to implement and uphold stronger policies related to MSA.  

 

The Long Arc Bends 

 

 While the struggle for justice has been difficult, move- 

ment allies have spread across the country, from local communi- 

ties to congressional halls. As with all the congressional Cau-

cuses, the Caucus for Women’s Issues (the Women’s Caucus)  

works to address and influence legislative matters (U.S. Legal,  

2013). The Women’s Caucus has focused on issues related to  

women and girls since its inception, and the 108th Caucus (2003– 

2004) continued that legacy by participating in special congres-

sional Women’s History Month activities. One activity was a  

hearing on MSA, followed by a report of findings to Secretary  

Rumsfeld. Shortly after, the House passed an amendment, cham-

pioned by the Caucus, requiring the Pentagon to adopt policies  

responding to MSA (Slaughter & Capito, 2005). In September  

2004, The Women’s Caucus met with DoD officials, and again in  

December with Pentagon officials, regarding the development of  

policies on MSA (Slaughter & Capito, 2005).  

 In 2005, Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), made  

another request for a report from the Armed Services Commit- 

tees, demanding a change in the sexual assault definition to bring  

the UCMJ in line with federal and state sexual assault laws  

(Snowden, 2005). When that request failed to bring results, she  

introduced the first bill to change MSA laws. Although the bill  

did not pass, it opened the door for the ongoing introduction of  

relevant legislation by other congressional leaders, including  

Congresswomen Nikki Tsongas (D-MA), Jackie Speier (D-CA),  

and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) (Snowden, 2005).  

 As the 21st century got underway, the number of women  

in the military grew, paving the way for a challenge to DoD poli-

cies that silenced victims and did nothing to address MSA. While  

survivors told their stories publicly and privately, the DoD found  

itself under pressure not only to provide answers, but to effect  

change. Katzenstein (1998) states, “feminist organizing (in its  

most adversarial and even sometimes in its more accommodative  



In Search of the Arc 

51 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 

form) does seek to transform the world” (p. 6). Feminist organiz-

ers collaborated with existing sexual assault advocates and or-

ganizations (e.g., the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network  

[RAINN]) and founded new organizations, such as Service  

Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and Protect Our Defenders,  

launching a campaign born of injustice, coupled with a desire to  

bring justice and protection related to MSA.  

 

From the Dreams of Many, One 

 

 Over the next decade, advocates and activists coordinated  

efforts, formed new entities, collaborated with state and national  

nonprofit organizations, forged professional relationships, and  

partnered with politicians as allies for change. Their fight was  

strengthened through the added efforts of politically powerful and  

influential national veterans’ organizations (e.g., The American  

Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of  

America) that have relentlessly campaigned for policy changes to  

address MSA and military sexual trauma.  

 Movement participants used a broad repertoire of political  

actions, media coverage, and public awareness building, regularly  

speaking before Congressional and Committee hearings, demand-

ing policy change to protect active duty service members and ad-

dress the needs of veteran survivors. Stories from victims and sur-

vivors informed politicians and the public that perpetrators had  

not been held accountable while victims were silenced, punished,  

discharged, and disgraced, and it became known that veteran sur-

vivors are denied benefits (“Military Sexual Assault Litigation,”  

2011; Anonymous, 2011; Bhagwati, 2010; U.S. Fed News, 2004).  

The voices of survivors-turned-activists were heard in congres-

sional chambers, the public square, university classrooms, and on  

the big screen.  

 The movement strategically used both traditional and so-

cial media to provide a platform from which survivors’ voices  

have traveled across the world as they live their version of soldier  

up—telling the most deeply painful personal stories. In March  

2007, Helen Benedict published “The Private War of Women  

Soldiers” in Salon magazine. Documentary filmmakers Kirby  

Dick and Amy Ziering, influenced by Benedict’s (2007) article,  



 Estabrooks 

 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 52 

produced The Invisible War (2012), which became a touchstone 

in Panetta’s challenge to the status quo. In less than a decade, 

the efforts of a small group of women had grown into a social  

movement, the voices of many joining to become one solitary  

force with a singular goal: safety and justice relating to MSA.  

 

A Bend Toward Justice 

 

 Although the arc was beginning to bend toward justice, its  

progress was slow. There was a need for a catalyst—a tipping  

point—to bring about effective change. By 2011, advocacy had  

influenced some change, including requiring treatment of sexual  

assault patients as emergencies in military medical facilities and  

enhancing training for key personnel (including leaders, victim  

advocates, and law enforcement) (SAPRO, 2012). Still, these  

changes lacked substance and real protection. Military rules for  

reporting up the chain of command remained in place, victims  

continued to be re-victimized by the military system, and sexual  

assault trainings were questionable (“Military Sexual Assault  

Litigation,” 2011). It is not surprising, then, that in this climate,  

MSA continued to occur at alarming rates. Nevertheless, the  

movement for justice marched forward, and between 2011 and  

2012, a confluence of three important events occurred to deliver  

the perfect political opportunity structure for substantive change:  

1. In February 2011, attorney Susan Burke filed a Federal  

lawsuit against the Pentagon on behalf of 15 female and 2  

male MSA active-duty and veteran survivors (Parker,  

2011). The lawsuit named then Defense Secretary Gates  

and former-Secretary Rumsfeld, accusing them not only  

of allowing a culture of sexism and misogyny and of fail-

 ing to implement regulations, but also of “prevent[ing]  

various programs from being fully implemented”  

(“Military Sexual Assault Litigation, 2011”, p.  

33).  

2. On July 2, 2011, President Obama appointed Leon Panetta  

Secretary of Defense. In January 2012, Panetta gave his  

first press conference on the topic of MSA, discussing  

new DoD reforms on sexual assault being implemented,  

 



In Search of the Arc 

53 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 

reforms that advocates and their allies had requested for  

years (Hynes, 2012).  

3. On April 14, 2012, following a viewing of The Invisible  

War (2012), Secretary Panetta met with Congresswomen  

Sanchez and Tsongas and held a press conference, an-

 nouncing immediate implementation of additional MSA  

policy changes (Kitfield, 2012). These policy changes in-

 cluded the removal of reporting sexual assault from the  

chain of command, the establishment of special victims  

units, and the enhancement of training programs (Kitfield,  

2012).  

 There is hope that Secretary Panetta’s policy changes will  

decrease the rate of MSA and provide redress for those who ex-

perienced any form of MSA. Nevertheless, policies alone will not  

make real changes in MSA. Successful change must be systemic  

and delve into the culture of the military and dismantle the old  

patriarchal, male-centric attitudes that disdain and denigrate  

women (Flood, 2011). A military that breeds violence against  

women is a military not only of little moral value in the eyes of  

the world, but also one that cannot be trusted.  

 

And Righteousness Like a Mighty Stream 

 

 This examination of the movement’s 20-year timeline il-

lustrates how far it has come. However, much remains to be done  

to ameliorate the injustices experienced by thousands of MSA  

victims. Efforts must be undertaken to adopt strong policies and  

to alter the culture surrounding sexual assault in the U.S. military.  

President Obama, in his April 4, 2008 speech commemorating Dr.  

Martin Luther King, Jr., stated, "Dr. King once said that the arc of  

the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. But what he 

also knew was that it doesn’t bend on its own. It bends because 

each of us puts our hands on that arc and bends it in the direction 

of justice" (The American Presidency Project, 2013). We are wit-

nessing the bending of the arc by the hands of those who have 

experienced egregious injustice and by those who would see it 

replaced with the safety and justice to which our uniformed ser-

vice members are inherently entitled.  

 



 Estabrooks 

 Columbia Social Work Review, Volume IV 54 

 Should the DoD choose to further commit to reducing  

sexual assault in their ranks and make justice for victims a prior-

ity, eventually the military may become a place where our na-

tion’s defenders no longer must protect themselves from their 

fellow soldiers. Until then, responsibility for change is shared 

among health and human service workers, medical personnel,  

and social workers. Given the multitudes of victims and survi- 

vors in military and civilian populations, we must recognize that 

there is a statistical probability our professional work with the 

military will include sexual assault survivors. Ethics require us  

to do no harm, and as a profession, achieving this means impro-

ving our knowledge around sexual assault. It is incumbent upon  

us to do our part in applying our hands to the bending of the arc 

toward justice, for if not us, then who?  

 

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