When Marcel Edwards joined the Air Force in November of 1981, she was a wide-eyed 21-year-old who was proud to serve her country. Now 52, Edwards says that a sexual assault she experienced while in the military has shattered her existence.
In late 1989 Edwards was stationed at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She was separated from a husband who she says was abusive. A male co-worker who Edwards trusted, a non-commissioned Air Force officer, came to her apartment under the premise that he had something important to tell her. After some small talk that quickly turned sexual, Edwards says he pinned her down and raped her while her two young children slept in the next room.
“He saw me in a vulnerable situation and he took advantage of it, knowing that my husband wasn’t there, that I was separated, and there was no mistake about that,” Edwards, an African-American woman, told theGrio.
A rape victim ignored
Edwards reported the rape to the police, who coordinated their investigation with the Air Force Office of Special Investigation (OSI). But she says the OSI was somewhat adversarial, interrogating her weekly, accusing her of lying and even suggesting that she was dating her perpetrator. She says her friends were called in and questioned and she lamented that she became the subject of a negative whisper campaign on the base and felt ostracized by her peers. “They would question me over and over again,” Edwards said. “They push to the point that you give up and get out.” When asked about Edward’s impression of their investigation, the OSI told theGrio that privacy issues prevented them from commenting on the case.
Edwards says she was ordered to take a lie detector test, and says she was compelled to comply because the police department told her no charges would be filed until she did. The perpetrator was eventually arrested and charged with sexual assault by Fayetteville police, but the case was repeatedly continued. She says she was never deposed for a trial, or called to testify. The most formal procedure, she says, was the lie detector test, which she reportedly passed.
By the time the case made it to the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office, charges against her perpetrator were reduced to “misdemeanor assault on a female” and not a criminal sex related charge. The DA’s office told theGrio that their investigation of the facts did not rise to the level of a criminal offense. The case was referred to “The Dispute Resolution Center.” In short, it was to be handled as a simple issue to be negotiated. Edwards told theGrio, “I did not want to see my perpetrator and decided to take an assignment overseas in Britain.”
The case was eventually dismissed by The Dispute Resolution Center when that office found Edwards was not being responsive and was no longer able to contact her.
During this time, the alleged perpetrator was promoted in the military, according to Edwards. As far as she knows, no further action was ever taken. “The damage to my life has happened and it’s irretrievable. I don’t feel I can ever regain my peace of mind, nor my ability to trust, or feel safe again, she said. “But, I am sharing my story so that I can hopefully help others, especially those who have suffered in silence.”
For a long time after the assault, Edwards could not utter the word “rape.” She internalized her pain and convinced herself that she was defective. She said that she felt hopeless and fearful, wondering if she would be raped again, finding it difficult to trust anyone. She had difficulty sleeping. She attempted suicide.
“You don’t know really what’s going on with you, because you bury this stuff so deep to survive,” she said. “You don’t have good relationships anymore. It ruins your life.”
A path towards healing
Edwards has since been diagnosed with PTSD related to military sexual trauma, and through therapy has learned that, despite what she believes were efforts by investigators to pin responsibility for the rape on her, she was not to blame.
“Because of therapy, I know I’m not a mind reader and I can’t predict the behavior of others,” Edwards said.
Now Edwards is an advocate for NO MORE, the new initiative created by and for a network of organizations that have united to end domestic violence and sexual assault.
Every major sexual assault prevention organization in the country has backed the NO MORE initiative, plus it was recently recognized by the White House on its blog.
“I think NO MORE is bringing that national awareness,” said Edwards, who separated from the Air Force in 1992 and now works in child protective services. “I think information and education is important. You have to educate people about domestic violence and sexual abuse. People have a tendency – even some of the social workers I work with — they think that it’s the victim’s fault.”
The NO MORE logo – similar to the AIDS ribbon and the pink breast cancer ribbon – offers a visual reminder of a pervasive problem in society, drawing attention to an issue that typically remains hidden under a shroud of shame and silence.
“It’s heartening that more and more brave survivors like Marcel are speaking up and saying NO MORE,” said NO MORE Director Virginia Witt. “This is a unifying, catalyzing symbol that men and women across America are using to call for an end to the violence.”
The specter of sexual abuse
Although Edwards’ story is horrific, it’s all-too-common in a society that stigmatizes sexual assault and often blames victims for the violence perpetrated against them.
According to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, more than 200,000 people are sexually assaulted in the U.S. each year — or one every 2 minutes — but 54 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police, and 97 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail.
For black women, the numbers are alarmingly high. Research shows that black women experience intimate partner violence at rates 35 percent higher than their white counterparts. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that for every black woman who reports a rape, at least 15 do not.
Specifically in the military, the problem of sexual violence appears to be growing – and gaining national attention.
Report on sexual abuse sends shockwaves
In its annual report on sexual assault in the armed forces, the U.S. Department of Defense estimated that 26,000 people in the military were sexually assaulted last year — up from 19,000 in 2010 — but only 3,374 sexual assaults were reported.
And a number of recent scandals have made headlines and provoked the anger of top government officials.
In February, Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin overturned a pilot’s conviction on sexual assault charges and ordered him released from prison, sparking a protest and widespread criticism. In an interview with Stars and Stripes, Lt. Gen. Franklin says in his view, the pilot, Lt. Col James Wilkinson, was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
In May, Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski – the Air Force official tasked with leading its sexual assault prevention program — was arrested for allegedly groping a woman in a suburban Washington, D.C. parking lot. At the time, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel expressed his “outrage and disgust” and promise that the matter would be “dealt with swiftly and decisively.” But the charge against Krusinski was later reduced from sexual battery to simple assault. Prosecutors said that after closer investigation into the incident, it was no longer appropriate to charge Krusinski of a sex related offense. The case has not yet gone to trial and Krusinski has maintained his innocence.
The scandals and statistics have even caught the attention of President Barack Obama, who has indicated a zero-tolerance stance on sexual assault in the military.
“If we find out somebody’s engaging in this stuff, they’ve got to be held accountable, prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period,” Obama told reporters at the White House in May.
The Senate Armed Services Committee kicked off hearings on the sexual misconduct crisis which included testimony from a nearly all-male panel of Pentagon officials, with just one female. Although both male and female victims were questioned during other related hearings, it was notable that when top military brass was called-in to be held accountable, very few women from the command staff were represented.
And if the female voice has been poignantly absent from the most visible discussions surrounding sexual assault in the armed forces, the voice of black women – who make up about one-third of the women serving in the military — has been almost nonexistent.
“If you think about the military, it’s macho,” Edwards said. “What place do they think we have?”
The military: On the defensive
Still, Pentagon officials say they are aware of the problem of sexual violence within military ranks and are working to correct it.
“The leadership of this department has no higher priority than the safety and welfare of our men and women in uniform, and that includes ensuring they are free from the threat of sexual harassment and sexual assault,” said Lt. Col. Cathy Wilkinson, a Defense Department spokesperson, in a statement to theGrio. “Leaders at every level in this institution will be held accountable for preventing and responding to sexual assault in their ranks and under their commands. The department is putting in place important new programs to achieve this level of accountability.”
When asked to respond to Marcel Edwards’ claims, Wilkinson said that privacy laws prohibit her from commenting on any specific case, but she did state the importance of respecting victims’ rights and providing responsive and timely support. In her statement, Wilkinson also outlined a series of military initiatives aimed at combating sexual assault that are either in progress or completed. The complete list can be viewed here.
“We need cultural change where every service member is treated with dignity and respect, where all allegations of inappropriate behavior are treated with seriousness, where victims’ privacy is protected, where bystanders are motivated to intervene, and where offenders know that they will be held accountable by strong and effective systems of justice,” Wilkinson said.
Movements to end sexual abuse march on
Experts say that organizations such as the military — along with churches and colleges — are especially prone to sexual assault because of their inherent hierarchy.
“Institutions as a whole are kind of structurally set up to both perpetrate and perpetuate sexual violence,” Monika Johnson-Hostler, president of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, told theGrio. “There’s so many other structural pieces that prevent the victims from coming forward and prohibit the hierarchy from dealing with it openly. I don’t think they’ve done the best job,” she added specifically of the military.
But Johnson-Hostler holds out hope that any advances made in fighting sexual assault in the military will help combat the problem outside the armed forces.
“Seeing this play out for the military could be beneficial for the civilian world, because the civilian world doesn’t have those structural challenges,” she said. “The more institutions that have this pervasiveness come to the light, the more likely it’s pushing future generations to change how we treat our women and children.”
Edwards: Using her voice to empower others
For Edwards, bringing her story to light has not been easy.
It’s taken her decades to talk openly about being raped, and the discussion still triggers a flood of emotion. But she is no longer ashamed of what happened to her, and she hopes that by breaking her silence and putting a face to sexual assault in the military, she will prevent other young women from suffering the abuse she endured.
“I just don’t have any shame about it,” Edwards said. “I used to live in so much shame and guilt. My therapy helped me, though. I realized I had nothing to be ashamed of — I had nothing to hide about it. I have documentation to prove everything that I’m saying, you know? So I just refuse to be quiet about it.”
Lauren Carter is a writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter @ByLaurenCarter.