A recent article caught my attention, “Chief Bass: Disrespect of fellow airmen must stop — now” originally I thought it was a reference to the rivalry between military branches and how the Air Force often gets picked on the most. But, after reading a bit further, the article was referring to a previous “Demanding Positive Change” article written after an article about two sisters (in the Air Force) serving together overseas received a large number of disparaging comments revealing that sexual harassment within the service is still a problem (Losey, 2020). The “Chief” who happens to be the first female Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, JoAnne Bass, addressed this issue by stating “Respect is non-negotiable” and that the Air Force needs a culture “that embraces diversity and is deliberate about inclusion, where our Airmen can focus on the profession of arms that they willingly chose to serve. And a culture where our Airmen are valued, respected, and see a future for themselves.” (Losey, 2020).
In “Demanding Positive Change” which was written by one of the serving sisters who is a public affairs specialist explains that social media has become the platform that allows sexism and sexual harassment to continue to circulate (Fejerang, 2020). The comments began as sarcastic humor then quickly escalated to cruder and harsher degrading sexualized comments. Social media has become the platform for sexism, sexual harassment, and harassment to thrive which is largely due to user anonymity along with a sense of pride from being labeled a troll with the minimal consequence of having their online profile suspended. Harassment from online Trolls is comical to many and viewed similarly as an annoying pop-up advertisement that has become a norm for online readers. While online trolls are not a surprise to many, what was surprising for Staff Sergeant Fejerang was that the degrading comments her article received were not exclusive to male harassers, many were also from female users (trolls) (Fejerang, 2020).
The article continued to explain that trolls and online sexual harassment gives visibility to a portion of the challenge’s women face in the military. One more severe and unfortunate example that received media attention was the death of Private First-Class Vanessa Guillen (Jones & Sanchez, 2020). Her death was caused by her alleged harasser who later committed suicide moments before being apprehended by law enforcement (Jones & Sanchez, 2020).
For change to take place mechanisms need to be put in place, we can no longer view the disparaging comments as humor, which is a cover for a toxic culture. The military has taken steps in the past towards changing the culture, in 2016 the military removed a ban that prohibited women from serving in combat occupations like infantry, artillery, and combat engineer. This year the Air Force was the first branch to select a female as their branches Senior Enlisted Advisor, along with this decision was their selection of an African American four-star General as their Chief of Staff.
Change is uncomfortable, and I can imagine policing up those that make online harassment will be a challenge. In “Demanding Positive Change” many of the excuses for the comments were being defended through victim-blaming with comments such as “Whose idea was it to post this article on social media?” (Fejerang, 2020). This problem fits into Schein’s three-stage template for planned change: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing (Penn State, 2020). CMsgt of the Air Force Bass’s comments that “respect is non-negotiable” is another step towards disconfirmation, organizational members need to know that sexual harassment and the associated behaviors are not welcomed anywhere which includes online (Losey, 2020). Once a level of consequence can be established a sense of psychological safety can be present and new positive solutions will be open for introduction (Penn State, 2020).
Reference
Fejerang, H., (2020). Demanding Positive Change. Airforce Times. Retrieved from
https://www.airforcetimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/09/04/demanding-positive-change/
Jones, K., & Sanchez, R., (2020). Pfc. Vanessa Guillen bludgeoned to death on Army base,
family attorney says. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/us/vanessa-guillen-fort-hood-disappearance/index.html
Losey, S. (2020). Chief Bass: Disrespect of fellow airmen must stop-now. Airforce Time.
Retrieved from https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/10/08/chief-bass-disrespect-of-fellow-airmen-must-stop-now/
Pennsylvania State University (2020). Leadership in Global Context – OLEAD 410. Lesson 05:
Learning and Change in a Global Setting. Planned change. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075490/modules/items/29697176
Your piece is very beautifully written and made me immediately remember something. I know a major in the Marines, and he is one of the most sexist and racist folks you will meet. He is so bad that he turned on my background in our fantasy football league and the commissioner had to kick him out and I deleted all contact with him on social media. I cannot even imagine what women must endure sometimes in the military. Sadly, this behavior is still rampant everywhere. I work with an incredibly smart, talented and educated woman and she was interviewing for her own job due to some decisions to reorganize. In her first interview, the very first question she was asked by her male interviewer was ” So, how will you travel with 2 small children at home?” She called me immediately afterwards to tell me this. That question is not allowed to be asked, not to mention she was already traveling and doing what the position required and doing it well before the changes. She decided to hold on to that nugget and the most unbelievable thing happened. In her final interview with a higher up in the firm, the first question he asks her is ” so you have two kids at home, right?”. After the interview she called me and asked me to listen to something. She read a lot a statement she going to send her manager to send on to HR and after about 45 minutes of talking she thanked me as she cried for supporting her push to get this out to the firm.
I hate to admit this because I was terribly disappointed in myself for having done it, but I recently was talking to her my female coworker late night and I made a comment about the new lead manager coming in. I gave her all the information that I had received from others, and without even thinking I said ” yea, apparently he is a real family man…”. A few hours later she texted me and said she had a question to ask me about a comment I had made earlier that perturbed her. I was perplexed and said of course. She said, ” I know you just repeated what was said to you but what does it even mean to be a family man?”. I was mortified. I totally missed how inappropriate the information that had been passed on to me was and I just regurgitated it like a moron. The crazy part was I had just read an article earlier that day from the Today show where a big-time celebrity covered this exact thing. The article is titled “Keira Knightley wants us to stop praising dads for basic parental duties”. In the article goes into depth about how working fathers are rarely asked about work-life balance. “It’s really rare to see a guy at children’s (daycare), and if he is, people say, ‘Ooh, what a lovely dad. Look at him looking after his own children,” Knightley, 35, told HelloGiggles. “You would never say that to a woman.” I told my friend I was so sorry for being a moron and saying that, and honestly I was just repeating what was said and she understood and told me she knew that. I then told her about this article, and we had a real good chat about how broken the world truly is.
Schein’s planned change theory has a bullet that really echoed with me as I read your blog post. Most adult changes involve attitudes, values and self-images, and the unlearning of present responses in these areas is initially inherently painful and threatening. This to me is the issue with corporate America and the military based on your post. The beliefs and values that women are not viewed as equals to men for the same roles are entrenched and will be exceedingly difficult to correct unless we all do our part. I failed at this, and I need to do better. Thanks for sharing this article, I want to read it more in-depth tomorrow morning while I have coffee.
1 TodayShow. (2020, October 1). Keira Knightley wants us to stop praising dads for basic parental duties. TODAY.com. https://www.today.com/parents/keira-knightley-says-dads-are-given-free-pass-kids-t193071.
2 canvas learning management system. Penn State Canvas Login. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075490/modules/items/29697176.
I enjoyed your blog post; you offer a very good amount of data to explain the situation and why change is needed. One of my favorite axioms is “There is truth behind every joke”. I say this to my children and believe it holds true. People often propose a joke to test the water, they throw it out there, and if it is not accepted, then it is easy to claim it as a joke. I believe this is what most of the “trolls” do that you are referring to. They throw out a comment to gauge a reaction, and if it is supported, they feel validated, but if it receives a negative reaction, they say it was a joke. I will admit to only having partial knowledge of what a “troll” is; I assume it is someone who leaves a negative or questionable comment on a post in order to push another person’s mental buttons.
The fact is, just as your post states, there is no place for this crude and unwelcome banter. If our civilization is to truly heal, then people must realize that offering unwelcome or belittling comments is unacceptable, even in a semi-anonymous platform like social media.
I agree the military has taken steps towards change and intolerance to crude comments disguised as a joke. In the Navy, we have a U.S. Navy Social Media Handbook that offers guidance on this policy and even reminds service members that they are subject to the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) when posting on social media platforms. According to the U.S. Navy Social Media Handbook (2019), “As a Navy leader, you must lead by example. You must show your Sailors and Navy civilians that improper or inappropriate online behavior is not tolerated and must be reported if experienced or witnessed” (p.3). Further, the handbook clearly states that posting, commenting, or even linking to some material can violate the UCMJ and result in disciplinary actions.
However, I think the trolls you mention may believe they have the safety of anonymity; only the truth is many have hidden behind this curtain before only to find out there is justice waiting for them on the other side.
References:
U.S. Navy. (2019). U.S. Navy Social Media Handbook. https://www.csp.navy.mil/Portals/2/documents/downloads/navy-social-media-handbook-2019.pdf