Will he ever change? Chapter 15
In May of 1994 Admiral Mike Boords, newly appointed chief of naval operations after the Tailhook sex scandal, expressed his faith that it would never happen again. "I think our culture is different," he said. Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder responded with doubt that navy culture has changed, and Senator Barbara Boxer months later said, "The military needs to be realistic and admit there is a problem" In fact, a study reported in the same article indicated that one in every three military families has suffered some kind of family abuse. Since it focused only on physical abuse and the overwhelming preponderance of nonphysical abuse among the general public is acknowledged, it is horrifying to consider what that statistic might be among the military.
Most people working with battered women doubt that American culture has changed either. Battering has not abated. Rape continues. Men still exchange demeaning jokes and buy Penthouse and Playboy. Rock videos titilate with violence against women. The film industry grows rich on macho heroes. And only recently a men's counselor told me that a judge who gave a batterer extreme leniency whispered knowingly to him, "We know the trouble-she's not giving him enough sex."