Government-funded sexually objectifying entertainment helped cause the military’s sexual assault epidemic.

Evidence

Few have questioned the effects of these government-funded shows. But in a series of articles on “Women in the Battlefield and the Barracks,” the environmental health expert H. Patricia Hynes notes that these forms of sexually objectifying entertainment have helped shape the epidemic of sexual assault and harassment now roiling the military. The pervasive pornography found in the armed services—a soldier told me that pornography was so valued by troops in Iraq, it was like currency—has had a similar effect. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 569

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces MST as the official term for military sexual trauma, useful for further reading.