My daughter will be applying to the Naval and other academies soon. I remember the days of a lot of sexual assaults against females at different Academies. As a mother, should I worry about this? Are there stringent safeguards in place now?
You are always going to be concerned about sexual assault on your daughter as a mom.
IMPO, as a woman who served for 26 years, I saw my share of "stuff," but my brush with actual sexual assault occurred at my civilian college. (I got away. Never told my mom.) There is always that possibility, but at the SAs, your daughter will become close to her company mates, team mates, and others, and they look after each other. Women have been at SAs since the 70's (!!!), and the percentage has increased over time so that it's a norm now, mirroring changes in society.
Sadly, a number of the reported sexual assaults have taken place off-installation, alcohol, underage drinking and he/she said, involved. With a strong sense of self, personal awareness and inner resolve to buck peer pressure, both men and women can avoid those kinds of situations. Those situations can be found at and around any college campus.
The mids get briefs, on things like date rape drugs, what constitutes consent, using the buddy system, whether in downtown Annapolis or Cancun. There is a sexual assault prevention, counseling and reporting system in place.
I think the military has more education, training and resources than civilian colleges, and there are Uniform Code of Military Justice and administrative consequences for those found in violation. UCMJ is the military criminal justice code.
As is true anywhere else, there is pressure not to report. A conundrum is if the victim was committing an alcohol, fraternization or other offense at the same time - that brings different consequences than at a civilian college.
Have those candid talks with your daughter about date rape situations, being strong and personally aware, setting boundaries, taking responsibility for actions, understanding the impact of alcohol on impulse control, cultivating mindfulness and self-respect, the better to navigate murky situations where consent may or may not have been given. Ditto talks with sons on same things. Lastly, the most under-reported sexual assaults, those against men, cannot be ignored.
Just my .02.