Hi,
I'm a writer at GQ, and I'm at work on a major feature story on male MST. Over the past couple of weeks, I've spoken with a number of men who suffered MST during the course of their service. They range in age from their early twenties to their late sixties, and they've come to me through several avenues. The organization Protect Our Defenders has been very helpful, as has the V.A. in Salt Lake City. The activist and MST survivor Brian Lewis has been kind enough to connect me with several of his peers.
The goals of the story are to raise public awareness of MST (and, I hope, to begin the process of destigmatizing it) and to connect survivors with treatment resources.
If you're a male MST survivor and you're open to sharing your story, I would greatly value the opportunity to talk with you over the phone. In addition to hearing about your specific experience of MST, I'd very much like to know your thoughts on several other important questions: on what it is in military culture that might give rise to these attacks; on why the military resists punishing attackers; and on what kinds of steps might be taken to eradicate sexual assault from military life.
I should mention that you don't have to use your real name in the article if you prefer not to. Similarly, we can work together to change any details in your story which you believe may be identifying--dates, places, ranks, etc.
I'd of course be glad to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to contact me at nathaniel.penn [at] gmail [dot] com --best regards, Nathaniel Penn, correspondent, GQ