The current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the previous Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have been included in a class action lawsuit that alleges they turned a blind eye to sexual abuses and harassment within the military. Fifteen women and two men who are active-duty or veterans of the military are seeking financial compensation for abuses they suffered while serving their country, some were raped and others were sexually harassed. They claim that when the abuses were brought to the attention of their superiors and the Department of Defense, but their perpetrators either received transfers or no punitive action at all. The defendants and sexual harassment attorneys who filed the lawsuit state the military does nothing about the misogyny so prevalent in the military.
The reports of the wide-spread sexual abuses by military personnel mirror the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse many women face in the civilian workplace. Misogyny is still common in the workplace and military, but with the assistance of sexual harassment lawyers women feel for confident about speaking out. Dispelling the idea that men and women just have to deal with sexual abuse is the fundamental duty of sexual harassment attorneys, and should be upheld by the government and military. Only a third of individuals who have been sexually harassed report the abuse. With continued exposure of the abuses that men and women face in the military or at their jobs, the hostility of their working environments can be reduced.
