WHEREAS, at the Tailhook Association convention in September
1991, Navy aviators surrounded unsuspecting female guests, including 14
female Navy officers, and passed them down a gauntlet, grabbing at their
breasts and buttocks, attempting to strip off their clothes, and jeering
and taunting; and
WHEREAS, the publicity surrounding the Tailhook Association
incident reveals an attitude of contempt toward women held by many military
men and tolerated by much of the military leadership; and
WHEREAS this practice has occurred since 1986 with the knowledge
of senior military leaders; and
WHEREAS, military leaders did not take the women's reports of
the incident seriously and the perpetrators and others aware of the incident
obstructed the investigation; and
WHEREAS, high-ranking officers have long been aware of the pervasive
nature of sexual harassment of military women as evidenced by a Department
of Defense report showing that in a single year 64% of all military women
had experienced some form of sexual harassment, but yet these leaders have
given little more than lip service toward addressing the problem; and
WHEREAS, a primary purpose of sexual harassment in the military,
as elsewhere, is to ensure that men will not have to compete on fair terms
with women; and
WHEREAS, the combat exclusion policies, by precluding women
from the core functions of the military, define women as marginal service
members, thereby fostering sexual harassment and denying women their right
to full citizenship;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Organization for
Women denounce the Tailhook incident and the subsequent handling of the
investigation as contemptible, and demand a thorough and objective investigation,
together with full enforcement of DoD policies against sexual harassment
and the appropriate articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW again call on Congress, the
President, and DoD to repeal the combat exclusion law and all combat exclusion
policies and immediately begin full integration of women into all positions
in the Armed Forces; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW commend Lt. Paula Coughlin
and others like her for their remarkable courage in speaking out about
the victimization of women in the Tailhook incident.