Thinking a lot about a recent conversation with one of my old sergeants. She had been tasked, by a Col to put together a brief for new Marines (women) regarding inter-unit dating and general “professionalism/morality.”

No such male Marines were given this training of course.

Moreover she was encouraged to seek an officer commission. The Col was attempting to address the recent sexual assaults in his unit, citing the lacking female leadership as one of the causes of these assaults.

Apparently he thinks we can mentor young women out of being attacked

Aside from the rage inducing idea that preventing sexual assault falls squarely on the shoulders of those most affected, we can see clearly how this doesn’t work right?

On the risk of oversimplifying here - the problem is with the men.

So pull THEM out of training to relearn consent, and maybe we start holding them accountable for their own morality and sexual activity - rather than those “slutty women.”

The very framing of this is incredibly problematic - assuming the problem with sexual assaults lies with the very presence of women. That just by being, WE are the problem. Not the actions of misogynists.

And if we want to get serious about increasing female leadership - then address the issues that keep pushing women out of the service. Fix the issues and then recruit more women.

Don’t recruit more women to fix the issues.