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Expert speaks to Scott Airmen about 'understanding consent'

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stephenie N. Wade
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  The Scott theater overflowed Jan. 25 when more than 500 Airman between the ages of 18-26 gathered to hear Anne Munch speak about understanding consent and preventing sexual assault.

"We invited Ms. Munch to Scott to raise sexual assault prevention awareness as it relates to consent and with a 21st Century perspective," said Pamela Dorsey, Scott Installation Sexual Assault Response Coordinator.

Munch is an attorney with 22 years of experience, and is a career prosecutor and advocate for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. She works extensively with the military on the development of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response programs currently used on installations.

The Defense Department received 3,191 reports of sexual assault last year, however, according to rape statistics, sexual assault is one of the most under reported crimes, with 60 percent of the crimes unreported.

Statistics also show that the 18-26 year age group is at higher risk of being assaulted, which is why the speaking event was mandatory for that age group. However, wing leadership also attended a separate briefing earlier that day targeted toward supervisors.

"She [Munch] is here to stress the importance of making better decisions and the resilience need in the response," said Dorsey.

Munch's opened the event by asking the young audience a question to demonstrate how much each gender's daily approach to protecting themselves from being sexually assaulted varies greatly.

"What measures do you take on a daily basis to prevent you from being assaulted?" she asked.

For a moment there was silence, but then two men blurted out: "stay out of jail" and "work out." The audience chuckled, but then the women began to give a long list of responses to the same question: "carry mace, put keys in-between my fingers, take self defense classes and use the wingman concept."

Munch continued, "So why are women subject to assaults more than males, and why are their assaults often questioned and doubted more than the assailant?"

She shared a story about a young woman who was raped in the mountains of Colorado. After describing the event, she asked, "If a girl walking alone at night to get a piece of pizza, is taken, raped and lives to tell the story, is she at fault? ...Because obviously, anyone walking alone at night is asking for it. Does the same hold true for men? There seems to be a double standard here."

Munch impressed upon the audience, "No! No one deserves to be violated or assault by anyone regardless of the circumstances."

Changing the societal and individual thought patterns surrounding sexual assault cases has been her greatest challenges, she explained.

"I used to assume there were two parties to a sexual assault," said Munch."I was wrong. There was a third party that influenced cases and affected their outcome: the unnamed conspirator."

The unnamed conspirator is the influence in the room that isn't seen nor acknowledged but which certainly has a voice. Munch said society acts as the unnamed conspirator, which is largely responsible for victims refusing to report sexual assault crimes.

"Rape is an embarrassing and humiliating experience for the victim," she said. "The unnamed conspirator is a societal attitude. We have created a perfect environment for perpetrators."

When society intimidates people from reporting an assault, that is when it acts as an unnamed conspirator.

"We need to change our focus and start looking at the attacker first," she added.
Munch's guest speaking role is just one way the Air Force is supporting the efforts proposed by Sexual Assault Response program.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vowed to reduce sexual assaults within the military with a series of initiatives. Beginning this year, the military will require its sexual-assault response coordinators and victim advocates to obtain nationally recognized certification and will extend confidential reporting and victim-support services to spouses and children.

Dorsey explained that "the military has worked hard to help prevent sexual assault and has implemented training to help military members recognize dangerous situations. The training is called Bystander Intervention Training, which was implemented in 2010, with the goal of having the entire Air Force trained by June of 2012."

BIT is expected to significantly reduce the amount of sexual assaults across the board. Currently 85 percent of the Scott members have completed bystander intervention training with five months left to reach the 100 percent goal. For more information on the SARC program, contact Dorsey at 256-4196.