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sexual violence
3 Reasons the Senate Should Reject Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense
I will protest the nomination of Fox News commentator and Trump’s buddy Pete Hegseth to lead the DOD over sexual assault allegations, his views on women in the military, and his history of financial mismanagement.
Jan 14, 2025
On January 14 at 9:30 am, the Fox News commentator and Army National Guard Major Pete Hegseth is scheduled to be questioned by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in a confirmation hearing on President-elect Donald Trump's nomination for him to be Secretary of Defense.
I, along with many other women and men military veterans, will be at the hearing to strongly protest Hegseth's nomination and demand that the committee refuse to send the nomination forward for a vote of the entire Senate.
I am an unlikely protester. I served 29 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves. I retired as a colonel. I was also a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and was on the team that reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December 2001. I resigned from the U.S. government in March 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq.
Sexual Assault Allegations
I will protest lackluster Army National Guard Major Pete Hegseth's nomination on several points, but my primary concern is his physical and psychological violence toward women.
I am 78 years old. I joined the Army in 1967 when less than 1% of U.S. military forces were women. Now, 17.5% of U.S. military forces are women.
Sexual assault in the military is rampant, and Hegseth has a history of sexual violence toward women. He secretly paid a financial settlement to a woman who had accused him of raping her in 2017.
Even Hegseth's mother, Penelope Hegseth, in 2018, during Hegseth's divorce proceedings from his second wife, strongly criticized his treatment of women. In an email obtained by The New York Times, Hegseth's mother wrote:
As a woman and your mother I feel I must speak out... You are an abuser of women—that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth. [...] It's time for a someone (I wish it was a strong man) to stand up to your abusive behavior and call it out, especially against women. [...] On behalf of all the women (and I know it's many) you have abused in some way, I say... get some help and take an honest look at yourself.
The Associated Press reported that "Tim Palatore, Hegseth's attorney, has revealed that the woman who made the allegations was paid an undisclosed sum in 2023 as part of a confidential settlement to head off the threat of what he described as a baseless lawsuit."
A 22-page police report was released in response to a public records request and offers the first detailed account of what the woman alleged to have transpired—one that is at odds with Hegseth's version of events. The report cited police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel staffer, another woman at the event, and Hegseth.
Considering the horrific history of sexual assault in the military, Hegseth's payoff to someone who has accused him of sexual assault must disqualify Hegseth from confirmation as Secretary of Defense.
With sexual assault in the military a continuing problem for women…and for men, there is no way that a person who has been involved in even allegations of sexual assault should be Secretary of Defense… or president, for that matter, but that's another issue for evangelical Christians, Catholics, and other religious conservatives who voted for Trump to explain to their daughters.
The number of sexual assaults in the U.S. military is likely two to four times higher than government estimates, according to a study from Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute. "During and beyond the 20 years of the post-9/11 wars, independent data suggest that actual sexual assault prevalence is two to four times higher than DOD estimations—75,569 cases in 2021 and 73,695 cases in 2023," the authors wrote in the report, which was released August 14, 2024.
The Costs of War Project report comes a year after a Pentagon report found that reports of sexual assault at the country's three military academies increased by over 18% between 2021 and 2022, setting a new record.
A 2016 Department of Veterans Affairs study of over 20,000 post-9/11 veterans and service members found that 41.5% of women and 4% of men experienced some form of sexual trauma while serving. One in three women and 1 in 50 men have reported military sexual trauma during VA healthcare screenings.
And finally, if the previous concern about on sexual assault allegations isn't enough to torpedo Hegseth's nomination, his statements on women's role in the military should sink his nomination.
Hegseth's Negative View of the Role of Women in the Military
In a podcast, Hegseth said the military "should not have women in combat roles" and that "men in those positions are more capable." In another podcast he said that female soldiers "shouldn't be in my infantry battalion."
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Army National Guard member and a Purple Heart recipient, said Hegseth was "dangerous, plain and simple." Duckworth was one of the first women in the Army to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. She lost both of her legs and partial use of her right arm in 2004 after a rocket-propelled grenade struck her helicopter. "Where do you think I lost my legs? In a bar fight? I'm pretty sure I was in combat when that happened," she told CNN. "It just shows how out of touch he is with the nature of modern warfare if he thinks that we can keep women behind some sort of imaginary line, which is not the way warfare is today."
Additionally, Sen. Duckworth added: "It's frankly an insult and really troubling that Mr. Trump would nominate someone who has admitted that he's paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him... This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense."
If sexual assault issues and his negative view of women's role in the military do not convince the Senate's Armed Services Committee that Hegseth's nomination should not go forward, then the mismanagement of funds of tiny organizations compared to the massive Department of Defense budget should take him out of consideration for the extraordinary position of Secretary of Defense.
Mismanagement of Tiny Organizations Compared to the Massive Department of Defense
In the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct while in the organizations, Hegseth was forced to resign from the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran, Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America.
According to CBS, "Hegseth received a six-figure severance payment and signed a non-disclosure agreement when he exited the organization Concerned Veterans of America" in 2016. "The payment came amid allegations of financial mismanagement, repeated incidents of intoxication and sexual impropriety, as well as dissension among its leaders over Hegseth's foreign policy views," CBS reported.
Prior to joining Concerned Veterans for America, Hegseth faced allegations of financial mismanagement from Vets for Freedom (VFF), where he worked from 2007 to 2010.
"Donors were concerned their money was being wasted and arranged for VFF to be merged with another organization, Military Families United, which took over most of its management," CBS reported further. "Revenue at VFF dwindled to $268,000 by 2010 and by 2011, the organization's revenue was listed as $22,000. Hegseth joined Concerned Veterans for America the following year."
Margaret Hoover, host of the PBS program "Firing Line" and a former adviser to Vets for Freedom, said in an interview on CNN that Hegseth had managed the organization "very poorly." Hoover expressed doubt about his ability to run the sprawling Defense Department when he had struggled with a staff of less than 10 people, and a budget of under $10 million.
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Women, We Will Not Capitulate to the Likes of Trump, Musk, and Hegseth!
The slogan “We won’t go back” is even more essential right now.
Jan 05, 2025
For the last 48 hours, one of the most horrifying quotes I have read during the past decade—and the Trump boys have provided a lot of material—is one from the pastor of one of the worst people on the planet: Pete Hegseth. This quote is haunting me. Hegseth is a strong supporter of an unordained pastor from the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, Doug Wilson—Hegseth’s whole family is heavily involved in this far-right outfit, his kids being brainwashed daily, as they are taught this nonsense in their “school.”
Here are the words of this “man of God.”
“The sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasure party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts.” The alleged failure of women to submit leads men to the “dream of being rapists” deprived of the “erotic necessity” found in women’s submission. Wilson also believes God created women “to make the sandwiches” and thinks giving women the right to vote has led to a long, sustained war on the family.
These men are trying to do the impossible: create 1950s stay-at-home wives when the super-rich have made it impossible for the working class, and even the middle class, to survive on one income as they could in 1952.
We need to worry here. A lot. This ideology must be nipped in the bud! Anyone can see what this guy, and Hegseth, and any of the other rapists attending his church believe: that God loves them for committing rape. The implications of this toxic talk is pretty obvious: If you, like U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, Matt Gaetz, and a number of the other good ol’ boys have raped a woman, you can now pat yourself on the back because you are doing God’s work. If we allow it, these men will be weakening the already poorly enforced laws protecting women from sexual violence, destroying rape kits in police stations, and attempting to force women to have the babies from the rapes. In some legal cases, rapists have demanded rights to raise the child—and judges have sometimes sided with violent rapists.
Women have fought long and hard for the few rights we thought were safe. The Trumpers overturned the big one—the right to reproductive care—and are bullying large companies into eliminating “DEI,” much of which was helpful for women in career options. More Trumpers than the creepy Doug Wilson have questioned women’s right to vote. In some of the most egregious cases of women’s oppression in Texas and a few other states, the right of child-bearing-age women to cross state lines is being stolen from them, as well as the most basic right to healthcare as more women bleed out in hospital parking lots—and we will hear less and less about these cases as the states responsible are trying to keep the state-sponsored murders of young women quiet.
Women got together in the late 1960’s and rose up, because many of us grew up in a moment of great change: Women were out in the streets protesting the Vietnam War and were an integral part of the civil rights movement. We were not going to be secretaries in polyester suits making coffee for the boss. The book Our Bodies, Ourselves taught many of us a tremendous amount about our own selves that we never had access to before: what is healthy in a cycle, a pregnancy, a miscarriage, a relationship, a woman’s life. We created safe spaces for women to gather. Women were not able to access credit without a male cosigner as recently as 1974. This includes a mortgage—so as recently as 50 years ago, a woman could not purchase a home without a male cosigner. With a seriously few exceptions, all the doctors were male, so women really were on their own unless they lived in one of the very few families where sex talk was acceptable.
The best aspect, by far, of the Harris campaign was the focus on women’s rights. Too bad Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t care about the rights of the women in Gaza—she might have won the election. The slogan “We won’t go back” is even more essential right now. These men are trying to do the impossible: create 1950s stay-at-home wives when the super-rich have made it impossible for the working class, and even the middle class, to survive on one income as they could in 1952. The Trump-Musk economic plan is basically to impoverish anyone who is not already struggling or who is not in the highest earning class. The Musk dream of every white woman producing a plethora of babies is never going to happen unless they are able to create a Handmaid’s Tale-type situation: compulsory breeding. And Elon Musk has implied that is exactly what he is shooting for.
Women: no capitulation! Rape is a crime. Rape destroys lives, rape creates unwanted and unloved babies. Rapists are violent criminals—their wealth, class, race, ethnicity are irrelevant. Men who violently rape women are all guilty of a major sin. Rape is not a sacrament.
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International Progressives Applaud Gisèle Pelicot's Courage as French Rape Case Ends in Guilty Verdicts
"Today, we stand with all survivors of sexual violence and against the systems that intimidate them into silence," said British lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn.
Dec 19, 2024
As the horrific rape case in southern France that has captured international attention came to an end Thursday, with the former husband of survivor Gisèle Pelicot and 50 other men found guilty, the response of Pelicot's supporters outside the courthouse and of politicians across the globe made clear that the case has been a "rallying cry against the epidemic of rape and a system that silences survivors."
Pelicot's ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was sentenced to 20 years in prison—the maximum sentence for rape in France—for drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of other men to join him in sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious over a period of 10 years.
The case was remarkable both for the shocking allegations against the defendants—who came to be known as "Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde," or "Mr. EveryMan" across France—and for Gisèle Pelicot's adamant decision to open the trial to the public, a choice she said on Thursday she has "never regretted."
"When I opened the doors of this trial on September 2, I wanted society to be able to seize the debates that took place there," said Pelicot. "I now have confidence in our ability to collectively grasp a future in which everyone, women and men alike, can live in harmony, mutual respect, and understanding."
Pelicot's case inspired anti-sexual violenceprotests across France and Europe in September, with marchers displaying banners that echoed the words that Pelicot's attorney shared on her behalf when the decision to make the trial public was announced: "Shame must change sides."
That phrase became a rallying cry during the trial, with women's rights advocates demanding that France's criminal code be changed to affirm that sex without consent is rape—and Pelicot expressing hope that her case would inspire other sexual assault victims to come forward and seek justice.
In France, 86% of police reports of sexual violence have been dropped, with just 14% making it to trial. Only 13% of suspects have been convicted of faced consequences, and 40% of women who have reported attacks to the police have said they were treated poorly by the authorities.
"I am thinking of the unrecognized victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows," said Pelicot after the verdict was read on Thursday. "I want you to know that we share the same fight. I would like to express my profound gratitude towards everyone who has supported me throughout this ordeal. Your messages have deeply moved me and have given me the strength to come back every day to face these long, daily hearings."
By allowing the media access to the trial, University of Liverpool criminology professor Fiona Measham said Pelicot "flipped the script" regarding how rape is often viewed and discussed.
"Quite often, survivors are blamed for doing something wrong—like going to bars or meeting men online—but Gisèle showed that she was victimized by her husband and dozens of men while in her home," psychotherapist and author Amy Morin toldUSA Today.
Reneé Carr, a psychologist, told the outlet that Pelicot's "courage to shine a light on what happened to her... can, hopefully, give strength to other victims to also speak out and to see themselves as blameless."
The progressive French journal L'Humanité featured Pelicot on its cover this week, with the headline expressing thanks: "Merci Madame."
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn also acknowledged the case on Thursday, saying Pelicot "will forever be the face of dignity and resilience."
"Her bravery is truly remarkable—and she has empowered millions of women around the world," he said. "Today, we stand with all survivors of sexual violence and against the systems that intimidate them into silence."
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez used the phrase Pelicot's case has made famous: "What dignity. Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot. Shame must change sides."
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