Sex Assaults Against Males May Be Underreported

Despite conventional wisdom that would suggest otherwise, male troops are more likely to become victims of sexual assault than their female counterparts, two experts claim. “Number-wise, we’ve had more men assaulted in the military than women. And everywhere I go to talk … it doesn’t sink in,” Russell Strand, a retired Army Criminal Investigative Service agent, told an audience Feb. 19 at the Army’s Sexual Harassment/ Assault Program Summit in McLean, Va. While an estimated 8,000 military women are assaulted each year, Strand said, the comparable figure for men is closer to 10,800. Moreover, men are reluctant to step forward and report such assaults because they fear stigmatization. As a result, psychologist Jim Hopper told the audience, 87 percent of all male victims do not report such incidents. “These are real men in real pain,” Hopper said. He and Strand believe the services need to do a better job of reaching out to men and letting them know that help is available.