Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: Military rape about sexual predators, not hormones or hook-up culture

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on Tuesday chided a Republican senator for suggesting rape in the military was the result of "hormone levels created by nature."

Speaking with MSNBC host Chris Hayes, Gillibrand said there appeared "to be a disconnect between what this crime is and how it's perceived" by some military officials and lawmakers.

"Rape and sexual assault are crimes of violence, crimes of dominance," she continued. "More than half of the victims are men. These are not crimes of lust, they're not crimes of romance, not dates that have gone badly, they're not issues of the hook-up culture from high school or hormones as my colleague says.

"We're talking about predators, often serial predators, who are targeting their victims in advance, making them vulnerable through alcohol or other means, and actually stalking them. And they are often recidivists, meaning they repeat these crimes over and over again. What we're trying to do is root out this criminal element because men and women serving in our military should not be subject to attacks by their colleagues."

Gillibrand has proposed removing sexual crime cases from the military's chain of command. Such cases would be handled by trained prosecutors rather than unit commanders.

But at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, top military officials resisted the proposed change.

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