Top general blames military’s sexual assault on “hookup culture.”
First, the chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention unit was arrested for sexual assault. Then the Pentagon released a report showing that sexual assault had jumped from 19,000 cases in 2010 to 26,000 in 2012. Now, we have the Air Force’s top commander, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III,saying that sexual assault happens all the time outside of the military and that it’s because of a “hookup mentality.” 20% of women report they had been sexually assaulted,“before they came into the military…. So they come in from a society where this occurs…. Some of it is the hookup mentality of junior high even and high school students now, which my children can tell you about from watching their friends and being frustrated by it.”
It’s nice to know that this general moonlights as a cultural anthropologist who studies his own children. Maybe his kids can testify as expert witnesses and explain how sexual encounters between consenting adults is responsible for sexual assault and rape. I feel so much better knowing that military high ups have such a nuanced understanding of their institution’s rampant and systemic rape and sexual assault.
In all fairness, Welsh isn’t the only person making totally ignorant and disturbing comments about the military’s rape epidemic. Donald Trump, always a source of inspiration and wisdomtweeted “26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” So we can attribute rape to the hookup mentality and to men and women working together. We might as well throw in a “she was asking for it and shouldn’t have worn that dress” for good measure.
The thing is, we all expect offensive and outrageous drivel from The Donald. But I guess, by now, we shouldn’t be surprised by anything the military does (or doesn’t do) or says, when it comes to sexual assault and rape.
