How men became the hidden victims of military sexual abuse
Veterans tell how Armed Forces’ culture of abuse often starts with initiation ceremonies featuring sexual assault
CONTENT WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF RAPE, PHYSICAL ASSAULT, DEGRADING AND INHUMANE TREATMENT, HOMOPHOBIA, REFERENCES TO SUICIDE
David* does not know the name of the man who raped him.
“I was in the laundry room, wearing my white T-shirt, white shorts and white plimsolls,” David told openDemocracy, recalling the assault from when he was a 19-year-old Navy steward.
“I heard the door open and slam shut, and a man shouted out my name. I stood to attention, I did not speak. You only spoke when spoken to. I was aware of this man coming up behind me, and then there was a huge crash on my head.
“He was pounding at my head and shouting at me, calling me a cunt. I felt sick with the pain, I was getting a concussion. Then he shouted that if I wanted the beating to stop, I needed to get a hard-on.”
The man, a guard in the detention quarters where David had been placed following a disciplinary procedure, told him to pull down his shorts and underwear and touch his toes. “I could hear him spitting. I don’t know if he was spitting on me or his hand. And then he raped me.”
“I don’t even have a face,” he said. “Just a pair of shoes, and number five trousers.”
openDemocracy has previously reported on how women in the British Armed Forces are denied justice for sexual assault and abuse. We uncovered how women raped in the military are far less likely to see their alleged perpetrator convicted in military courts than in the civilian judicial system, and told the story of Jane*, a woman in the Royal Navy who was sexually assaulted multiple times by her colleagues.
But the sexual abuse of men in the military is barely discussed and severely stigmatised. During the course of our conversation, David told openDemocracy that he cared deeply about the misogynistic treatment of women in the forces. “But we never talk about men,” he said. “Every day, I read the papers, hoping for someone to talk about what happens to men.”
He leaned forward. “Promise me you will do this,” he said, his voice tight with emotion and tears in his eyes. “Promise me you will tell this story.”
A hidden abuse
Stigma and underreporting mean it is difficult to estimate how many men are victims of sexual abuse in the military. US data suggests it impacts one in 50 serving male personnel.
The British military operates its own judiciary, with the Navy, Army and Air Force each having a dedicated police service to investigate both crimes specific to the military – such as going absent without leave – and serious criminal conduct, such as rape and sexual assault committed by serving personnel. Victims of sexual offences can choose to report to military or civilian police.
To report this story, openDemocracy reviewed police and court martial data, submitted multiple FOI requests, spoke to victims and veterans, and reviewed dozens of forum posts, testimonies and reports in order to understand the scale of sexual abuse of men in the military.
We found that since 2015, the three service police forces have investigated 304 allegations of recent sexual offences where a man was the victim. Of these, 12 were rapes, while the majority were sexual assaults. Other offences included exposure and voyeurism.
There were 1,423 investigations where the alleged victim was a woman and 46 where the sex of the victims was recorded as “unknown”.
We also analysed data from court martials (military courts) to understand reports of “non-recent” offences, which include offences which were removed or recategorised by the English and Welsh judiciary with the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Between May 2015 and June 2024, five men faced 11 charges of buggery and two attempts of buggery – which was re-categorised as rape in 2003 – in court martials, with one found guilty. Offences committed before that time are still tried and sentenced according to the old law. There were 13 investigations into buggery in the same time period.
The MoD told openDemocracy that the Armed Forces take any allegation of rape or sexual assault very seriously and that complaints, including non-recent incidents, are investigated thoroughly.
It added that the forces have instigated numerous reforms, including the Zero Tolerance Policy on unacceptable sexual behaviour, introduced in 2022 as part of its response to a parliamentary committee's report on the treatment of women in the armed forces. The policy bans a range of unacceptable behaviours, such as public nudity and transactional sex, with perpetrators facing dismissal if guilty. The MoD has also set up the Victim Witness Care Unit, and the Defence Serious Crime Unit, which became operational in December 2022.
But a previous investigation by openDemocracy found gaps in the enforcement of the Zero Tolerance Policy, with no serving personnel found to have broken rules on sexual exploitation and abuse despite numerous allegations, for example.
Sian Norris
Victims can also seek redress by claiming compensation from the MoD. Since 2019, 82 men have received compensation following an allegation of sexual assault or sexual abuse, according to data obtained by openDemocracy through Freedom of Information requests. The amount of compensation varies according to the impact that the offence is judged to have had on a victim’s life.
Such figures are “likely the tip of the iceberg,” said Tony Wright, a registered social worker, veteran and founder of the charities Forward Assist and Salute Her. The charities have supported David and dozens of survivors of military sexual trauma.
“I wrote a report in 2021 about men’s experiences of sexual abuse in the military,” Wright said. “Of the men we interviewed, only a quarter had reported the offences at the time.”
Reporting rates for sexual offences in military and civilian cases are low for victims of both sexes, but men are even less likely to seek police help than women.
“For men in particular there’s a catalogue of issues as to why they don’t report. A lot is wrapped up in ideas about masculinity and being a man. Men not wanting to talk about it,” said Wright. “They ask themselves: I’m a big strong bloke, why didn’t I fight back? Then they ask questions about their sexuality – does this mean I’m gay? Often, men don’t think they will be believed and men are not believed.”
It is estimated that only one in five male victims of sexual offences ever reports to the police, meaning as many as 1,500 men could have been abused in the military since 2015.
“US figures suggest that just under one in 50 men are abused in military service,” said Wright. Given 89% of the British Army personnel is male, “statistically, we could have more men who are victims of military sexual abuse than we have women,” he added. “I don't think the military wants to actually recognise that.”
Command and control
The British military was in David’s blood. His father was a military man, serving in the Second World War. “He was a pioneer with his work on sonar,” he told openDemocracy with pride.
Growing up hearing stories about his dad’s service, David knew the Navy was his future. “I couldn’t wait to sign up,” he said. “The day I passed out was the proudest day of my life.”
Popular and hard-working, David fitted in well to Navy life. He had never been academic, but thrived in the physical and outdoorsy world of the forces. “I went in low, smashed through all the courses, and wanted to join the air crew,” he said. His ultimate ambition was to become a Navy diver, and he was determined to prove he was worthy of the promotion.
He worked hard, and played hard, too.“I was a bit of a Jack the Lad,” he admitted.
Life changed following a pub outing after a training day in 1994. “There was a guy on the course, a bit of an arsehole,” he said. That evening, the man made a sexually offensive remark. The resulting fight led to David being sentenced to 28 days in detention quarters – Portsmouth’s notorious ‘deeks’. There, living under a harsh regime that dictated men should follow orders without question – no matter how dangerous or cruel – he was raped by a guard.
Life in the deeks had long been brutal. A 1970s World In Action documentary detailed life for detainees in what was called the “hardest prison in Britain”. Men spoke of being forced to defecate in pans that they would then have to clean by hand, and there was a ban on speaking to fellow inmates. Ritualised bullying was the norm. One contributor told the documentary that the chief spat in his face. Another took his own life after the documentary was filmed.
Men faced with a spell in Portsmouth’s detention quarters would beg their lawyers and the courts to send them to military jail in Colchester, even if it meant a longer sentence. One veteran, who served in the 1980s, told openDemocracy men were “terrified” of being sent to the ‘DQs’.
Similar memories were shared on the Arrse forum – an online space for army veterans and personnel that is not known for its sensitive nature. Offensive humour is common and emotions are rarely discussed, with a machismo culture encouraging laddish banter. But when members started to discuss life in the deeks, their tone changed.
Men remembered a commander known as the “screaming skull”, described by one forum member as “a sadistic barsteward [sic] who even hated himself”. Another commander, known as “Chief Fuchs”, would “break you… by lying, deceit and incitement. The other chiefs knew how bad it was, but they were scared of him.”
“I was put in solitary for five days,” one man wrote. His crime, he said, was answering “yes, sir” when asked if he understood an order not to speak unless given permission. “All you got in there was bread and water. I was 12 stone when I went in, 10 stone 2lb when I came out.”
openDemocracy has seen photos from the 1990s – when David was detained – that show a grim, red brick 19th-century building, with rows of cells with netting covering the atrium, put in place to prevent suicides. There was no running water in the cells, which had barely changed since they were built in 1834, three years before Queen Victoria came to the throne.
“You are locked up, and you are treated like scum,” David said. “They control when you eat, when you shit, when you shave.” Men, he said, were not allowed to speak, and forced on long runs in the mud, punished for any speck of dirt that splattered on their white uniforms.
“I kept my head down,” he said. “I was doing everything. I didn’t sleep in my bed as I didn’t want to mess it up. They beasted me constantly. And I took it because I was in the service.”
Deeks was run on a strict command and control culture. David did whatever he was told, in order to get out after his 28 days. He did not want to risk disobeying an order and being held for longer. So when the guard entered the laundry room and started to beat him, he had no way to fight back and no choice but to follow orders. “I was not going to do anything that risked me not getting out in four days time,” he said.
Speaking to openDemocracy 30 years on from the assault, the pain and fear David felt on that day is etched into his face. He described feeling frozen, fearful of getting into trouble and being detained for longer, and desperate to cover up any evidence of what had happened.
“When someone has the option of four days to get out of detention quarters, they are probably operating in survival mode, and will do whatever they need to survive it,” confirmed Wright. “Freezing is a normal response.”
Describing the attack, David said: “All I could think of was that I was bleeding and I was wearing white, how was I going to get past the kit muster? How was I going to run?” Frightened of dirtying his uniform, he tried to staunch the bleeding with a green paper towel. “But I was terrified they would find the paper in my cell,” he said. “You were not allowed to have anything in your cell that was not supposed to be there.”
The MoD confirmed that its Defence Security Crime Command has not received any reports from men held in the “deeks” between 1970 and 1995, when it closed permanently, that match the abusive behaviour uncovered by openDemocracy. It also confirmed that the current military jail, in Colchester, has a broad range of safeguarding and welfare interventions to ensure a safe environment.
David was released four days after the assault. It would be two decades before he told another soul about what had happened to him in the laundry room.
Sian Norris
Ritualised abuse
If command and control culture gives cover to abusers in the military, macho culture and peer pressure have allowed another form of sexually violent behaviour to flourish: initiation ceremonies.
These ceremonies have long been justified and excused as a way of forging bonds between new and old colleagues and toughening men up for battle. The reality, though, is a pattern of ritualised sexual abuse and humiliation, including criminal behaviour, that leaves men traumatised. Although they were formally banned under the MoD’s 2022 zero-tolerance policy, Wright said he believes initiation ceremonies continue.
Initiations can be as simple, if grim, as playing a drinking game. In 2018, a man describing himself as a British Army veteran, who posts on YouTube under the username Zero Foxtrot, hosted a livestream where he discussed the practice. His initiation, he said, involved having to stand on stage to drink a pint made up of beer, off milk, other people’s drinks and spit – a concoction that men were also encouraged to dip their genitals into – before giving a speech. “It was fucking horrendous,” he told viewers. “It smelled like hand sanitiser.”
As the evening progressed, people were also invited to constantly slap and smack his face whenever they wanted. “As long as you didn’t snap all night,” he explained, “you were welcomed into the group”.
Zero Foxtrot also told viewers how he attended another initiation where “one of the guys had to shower with this fucking minging bloke.” He described how the new recruit had to “wash this bloke's body, like his legs and shit. And it was fucking really gay. And he was, like, pissing on him whilst he was doing it, and stuff, like, fully clothed whilst he's washing this naked man.”
That sexual abuse is routinely committed as part of initiation ceremonies helps to explain low reporting rates. The pressure on men to accept any form of violence and degradation means that anyone who speaks out and reports an assault risks being ostracised. Those who don’t take part, said Zero Foxtrot, “will be an outcast and just be that fucking, like, boring cunt that no one likes”.
Research published by the charity Forward Assist found that 50% of interviewees reported sexual assault as soon as they joined the military in what could loosely be described as an ‘initiation ceremony’. One man interviewed by the charity described how he was “accused of lacking moral fibre for not taking my initiation as a joke and if I wanted to be part of the team I had to accept it and move on”.
Figures shared in Parliament in June 2022 reveal that the Royal Air Force’s service police investigated one allegation of a banned initiation ceremony taking place – meaning a suspected criminal offence formed part of the initiation – between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2022, before the Zero Tolerance Policy was introduced.
“I despise the term banter,” said Wright. “When people say, oh it’s only military banter, we’re just having fun. But it’s always around sexualised actions or humiliation, people laughing at others. And people are desperate to fit in, they’ll do anything to fit in.”
Abuse of this kind, warned Wright, perpetuates abuse. “The non-participant observer is encouraged to become the perpetrator,” he said.
Wright expressed concern that humiliation and sexual abuse in initiation ceremonies have been ignored because it is seen as serving a purpose for the Armed Forces. “The military is designed to kill people,” he explained. “And soldiers need to be able to survive being captured, interrogated. Rape and sexual assault is a dehumanising process, and I think some idiots actually see that as a process by which they’re making people stronger.”
Responses to a 2016 survey conducted by the Forces Network, asking whether initiation ceremonies should be banned, argued that “it’s all part of character building,” saying that “it builds cohesion.” One man wrote on Facebook that “it’s a tradition that helps form an unbreakable bond which is needed in battle.”
In contrast, says Wright, initiation ceremonies create poor soldiers. “Sexual abuse destroys any ability to trust,” he said. “Survivors are going to be more prone to a traumatic response.”
A trauma legacy
For David, the trauma of the rape has continued to impact every day of his life in the three decades since.
“When I left deeks, I was so angry,” David said. “I had no respect left. My job was to respect these men – men who were senior to me. But I couldn’t respect them.”
He could not stay in the Navy. Forced to leave the career that had long been his dream, David took jobs on cruise ships. His mental health started to deteriorate. Struggling to cope, he began to drink heavily, hoping that bottles of vodka would stop the flashbacks that haunted his nights. He came close to suicide on three occasions.
Physically, he was struggling too. He had his first seizure in 2001 and was eventually diagnosed with epilepsy and non-epileptic seizures. Married, with young children, the diagnosis meant he was no longer able to work.
David did not report the rape to the military police at the time – how could he, when he had no name or face of the perpetrator? But documents seen by openDemocracy regarding his Navy pension confirm that the MoD recognised the non-epileptic seizures were “due to trauma to his head during the rape in the service”.
“I’ve lost two fingers as a result of having a seizure when mowing the lawn,” he said. “I’ve broken my nose so many times, falling on the ground during a seizure.”
“David has succeeded in getting the military to admit that his PTSD is a result of the rape,” said Wright. “PTSD from rape in a place where he should have been safe. In my opinion, he should be compensated for this barbaric criminal act. There is a duty of care.”
The MoD is unable to comment on individual cases. However, a spokesperson said: “Sexual offences are not acceptable in the Armed Forces. We take these allegations extremely seriously and encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed this type of behaviour, whenever it happened, to report it immediately. We expect the highest standards from our personnel, and through our Zero Tolerance policies, anyone convicted of a sexual offence will be discharged.
“Our zero tolerance approach underlines our absolute commitment to providing a safe and supportive working environment for everyone in the Armed Forces.”
*Names have been changed to protect identity
If you have been a victim of sexual abuse in the military, and would like to share your story, email sian.norris@opendemocracy.net in confidence.
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