The UK Navy has opened an investigation into misogyny, bullying and sexual harassment reported by female members of the corporation.
According to a report published by the Daily Mail on Friday (28), the abuse took place for more than a decade in the service linked to submarine operations.
Navy Commander Admiral Ben Key said on his Twitter account on Friday that “sexual harassment has no place in the Royal Navy and will not be tolerated”.
“Whoever is found guilty must answer for their actions, whatever their position or status,” the statement continued.
Key also described the events reported in the indictments as “horrendous”. One of them denounces the existence of a “list of rapes”, in which women were classified in the order in which they should be raped if a catastrophic event happened on submarines.
The information is present in the testimony of Sophie Brook, one of the first women to join the crew of a submarine, which was published this Friday by the Daily Mail. According to her, the abuses were committed by both colleagues and commanders.
Among the situations reported by Brook to the British newspaper is the episode in which a superior officer inserted his genitals in her pocket, licked her ear and blew on the back of her neck, while she operated the periscope (optical viewing instrument) of the submarine.
“We were on a patrol [que pode durar meses] and you don’t leave unless you’re dead. One way or another, I had to deal for over a hundred days with these people,” she said.
Among other occurrences Brook reports are the time she returned to her cabin and found a colleague in her bed and the night she was woken up by an officer who climbed into her bed and tried to kiss her.
Brook claims that women who tried to report were marginalized or prevented from participating in training.
According to the Daily Mail, Brook began to self-harm as a result of these events. The newspaper claims to have had access to the Brit’s medical records which indicate that several people were aware of the injuries.
According to The Guardian, the Ministry of Defense stated that while most Royal Navy personnel have rewarding careers, the experiences of some, predominantly women, have been affected by inappropriate sexualized behavior. The Ministry also stated that more needed to be done and that it was improving mechanisms for reporting sex crimes.
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