Bureaucratic Harassment of U.S. Servicewomen

• In Event: 328 - Regular Session: Gender and Work: Structure, Culture, and Emotions

Abstract

Despite growing recognition of the sexual abuse faced by women in the U.S. military from their peers and superiors, extant research on this topic almost exclusively involves quantitative measures. Thus, existing studies provide vital data on the frequencies of abuses, yet reveal little about the dynamics and aftermath of harassment or abuse by the women who experience them. Using data from 38 in-depth interviews with military servicewomen, this article examines the sexual harassment of women serving in the United States military through a qualitative lens. In doing so, I identify how some servicemen manipulate the military bureaucratic system to harass, intimidate, and control servicewomen. Examples of behavior constituting “Bureaucratic Harassment” may include: issuing repeated citations for minor infractions with the intention of creating negative reports to delay promotion, threatening to withhold military benefits if a servicewoman reports sexual harassment or abuse, and revoking a servicewoman’s qualifications to remove her from a specific position or unit. While these behaviors are not new phenomena, they have not been previously identified as examples of Bureaucratic Harassment, a specific type of abuse that servicewomen experience. This article examines Bureaucratic Harassment among Black, Latina and White servicewomen, using an intersectional lens to examine the vulnerabilities that servicewomen from different social locations have to this kind of abuse.

Author

• Stephanie Bonnes, University of Colorado Boulder