Survivors of military sexual assault testifying before the Senate armed services committee on Wednesday told the panel that the military criminal justice system is “broken” and that the “epidemic” of sexual violence is a direct result of a misogynistic culture and a system that allows assault to be “swept under the rug.”

Despite the approximately 19,000 incidents of violent sexual crime which occur each year, this was the first Senate hearing into sexual abuse in the armed forces in a decade. According to the Pentagon’s numbers, women in combat zones are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by the enemy.

And sexual crimes against men are equally widespread. The Pentagon estimates that of the 19,300 sexual assaults in 2010, 8,600 of the victims were female and 10,700 male.

Rebekah Havrilla, a former army sergeant who was raped by another service member while in Afghanistan, told the Senate panel that after her attack what she experienced was a “broken” criminal justice system.

Reporting on her testimony, the Guardian writes that Havrilla described the military investigation into her case as being the “most humiliating thing that I have ever experienced,” noting that it was eventually closed after senior commanders decided not to pursue charges.

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