Peer trainers help midshipmen stop harassment

[unhappycamper]

Peer trainers help midshipmen stop harassment
By Brian Witte - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Nov 17, 2007 15:15:44 EST

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Midshipmen Joy Dewey and Joshua Foxton hope to hear familiar epithets when they ask a group of new students at the Naval Academy to describe promiscuous men and women.

When the plebes respond with “stud,” “tramp” and a few graphic offerings, Dewey and Foxton sense that they’ve attained a comfort level with the group and can springboard into a frank discussion of how language can be used to intimidate and sexually objectify people.

The two midshipmen are pioneers in a new peer-training program at the Naval Academy to prevent sexual harassment, a high-profile problem at the school. The Air Force Academy went through a similar struggle starting in 2003, when some female cadets came out and said they had been punished for reporting assaults.

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The program was designed to span a midshipman’s four years at the academy and create a more structured approach to raising awareness about sexual misconduct. It began with the incoming class of 2011, which will receive a total of 25 hours of training by the time it leaves the academy.

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Twenty-five hours of training for someone who graduates as a Naval officer is “woefully inadequate,” said Anita Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the victim advocacy group Miles Foundation, which focuses on sexual assault in the military. She suggests a minimum of 60 hours a year.

While the new program may demonstrate the academy is trying, much more needs to be done to address what has been a troubling issue in the military for years, Sanchez said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_navalharassment_071117/