Addressing Military Sexual Violence by Proposing a Social Media Influencer Model

• Date: 01 June 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X21994065
• Published date: 01 June 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X21994065

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2021, Vol. 65(8) 937 –954

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X21994065

journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo

Article

Addressing Military Sexual

Violence by Proposing a Social

Media Influencer Model

Roberto Cancio1

Abstract

Military sexual violence (MSV) is a prevalent issue that uniquely affects mission

readiness. Although research on MSV and social media is growing, examinations of

possible interventions like those employing social media in this population are scant.

Given the growing interest in targeting MSV, the present systematic review was

conducted. The PRISMA framework was used to conduct a systematic review of MSV

and social media (N = 71). Queries were limited to articles published between 2010

and 2020. SAGE Journals, PubMed, and JSTOR were utilized. Terms and potential

combinations were entered into the databases in varying Boolean combinations.

Additional recorders were identified for inclusion via the reference sections of

relevant records. After removing duplicates from the query results, we selected

records of suspected relevance by title and screened abstracts. Finally, articles

with relevant abstracts were reviewed thoroughly to determine whether they met

inclusion criteria for the review. The employments of military leaders in a social

media intervention puts into practice the military’s central values and development

of its leadership core. This intervention promotes group solidarity while maximizing

conversations around meaningful messages. Findings in this review suggest military

leaders could feasibly employ a cost-effective global intervention using social media,

as a tool to help actively address MSV.

Keywords

military, sexual violence, intervention, social media, influencer

1Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Roberto Cancio, The Veteran and Military Family Research Laboratory, Loyola Marymount University,

One LMU Drive, Suite 4314, Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659, USA.

Email: Roberto.cancio@lmu.edu

994065IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X21994065International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyCancio

research-article2021

938 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 65(8)

Introduction

In a U.S. Congressional hearing of the Committee on Armed Services United States

Senate, then Secretary of Defense, Sec. Panetta, reported 19,000 rapes occurring each

year in the U.S military; that is about two rapes per hour (Senate Hearing 113-303,

2013). Military sexual violence (MSV) are pervasive issues in the US military that

destabilize commands (Morral et al., 2018), affect mission readiness (Rosen & Martin,

1998), and threaten both unit cohesion (Morral et al., 2015) and national security

(Kamarck & Salazar Torreon, 2019).

MSV refers to actual or threatened sexual violence (e.g., including assault, harass-

ment, intimidation, coercion, abuse of power from a superior, or unwanted attention,

such as verbal remarks, pressure for sexual favors, and physical contact) experienced

by military service members (e.g., active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty

training) (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, 2020). MSV affects approximately 1 in

4 women and 1 in 100 men in the military (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, 2020).

Beyond the enormous psychological and physical human expense (Pegram & Abbey,

2019; Peter-Hagene & Ullman, 2018), this crisis is costing the US significant assets

(Brignone et al., 2017; Rosellini et al., 2017), making the nation weaker both morally

and militarily. The fallout from military MSV cost the U.S. $3.6 billion annually

(Farris et al., 2013).

Literature

At present, an increasing number of studies and reports have established MSV links

with risky, self-destructive, and health-compromising behaviors such as substance use

and misuse (e.g., alcohol misuse; Fillo et al., 2018; drug misuse; Yalch et al., 2018)

and mental health disorders (e.g., sexual behavior; Turchik et al., 2012; disordered

eating; Blais et al., 2017; and suicidal ideation, behaviors, and attempts; Bryan et al.,

2015). Yet little research has examined this link in military contexts.

From indoctrination, military recruits are socialized to new sets of military norms

(e.g., culture of masculinity) (Cancio, 2015). Intense physical and psychological

stressors stimulate military recruits and push them to operate under new sets of norms,

both emotional and physical. This social and psychological conditioning into military

life includes hyperactive vigilance to perceived threats and emotional distancing from

others (Cancio, 2015). The desensitization of service members may influence MSV

behaviors (Cancio, 2020).

Other military-related factors (e.g., exposure to combat, the number of deploy-

ments, traumatic brain injury) may also influence MSV behaviors (Cancio, 2020).

Military contexts (e.g., military jobs) and stressors (e.g., fear of death or harm) may

make service members particularly vulnerable to MSV-related risky behaviors

(Cancio, 2017). For example, military members face unique occupational-related

stress (e.g., deployments) and military spaces exist under a culture of masculinity

(Cancio, 2018b; Cancio, 2018c). Military deployment dynamics (e.g., deployment

duration), hyper-masculinity/sexism, and low male to female ratio, may create