Two victims of Marines nude photo-sharing
network come forward
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[March 09, 2017]
By Olga Grigoryants
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two women from the
U.S. Marine Corps, one still on active duty, came forward on Wednesday
as victims of a clandestine all-male social media network of military
personnel and veterans under investigation for sharing nude photos of
female colleagues.
The existence of a private Facebook group called "Marines United" and
its surreptitious distribution of explicit images of women in the Armed
Forces - often with obscene, misogynist commentary - came to light in
published reports over the weekend.
Initially uncovered by The War Horse, a nonprofit news site run by
Marine veteran Thomas Brennan, the scandal was first reported on
Saturday by the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting
through its radio-podcast Reveal.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has opened an inquiry into the
matter and senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill immediately denounced the
activity.
The Marines' top commander, General Robert Neller, weighed in with a
videotaped rebuke on Tuesday, calling the disclosures an "embarrassment"
to the corps. "I don't think such behavior is that of true warriors," he
said.
On Wednesday two women identifying themselves as victims appeared with
their Los Angeles-based attorney, Gloria Allred, urging others to come
forward and calling on Neller to meet with victims in person.
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"I can tell you that this exact behavior leads to the normalization of
sexual harassment and even sexual violence," said Erika Butner, 23, who
served in the Marines for four years before leaving the service last
June.
Butner said she learned months later that she was among numerous women
from all branches of the military whose pictures were posted without
permission to a shared digital drive and organized by name, rank and
military base. In some cases, contact information was included, she
said.
She was accompanied by Marisa Woytek, an active-duty Marine who said in
a written statement that while she was "fully clothed and appropriately
dressed" in the photos posted of her, those images drew comments
suggestive of sexual violence.
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![](../images/030917pics/news_d9.jpg)
Attorney Gloria Allred represents two female United States Marines,
active duty Marine Marisa Woytek (L) and former Marine Erika Butner
(R) during a press conference concerning their personal photographs
being posted without their consent to a "Marine Unit" Facebook page
in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 8, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Woytek told the New York Times the pictures were taken from her
Instagram account without permission, and she was alerted by friends
who sent her a screen shot. "I love the Marine Corps," she said,
"but after seeing that, I wouldn't re-enlist."
The U.S. Code of Military Justice explicitly outlaws distribution of
sexually explicit photos of others without their consent as an
offense punishable by court-marital.
The Facebook group in question is reported to have nearly 30,000
followers, mostly active-duty U.S. Marines, Marine Corps veterans
and British Royal Marines. CNN reported Wednesday that group
members, rather than halting their network once exposed, moved to
other pages with more restrictive access.
The photo sharing, involving thousands of images, began weeks after
the first Marine infantry unit was assigned women on Jan. 5, Reveal
reported.
(Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles;
Editing by Michael Perry)
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