Ex-soldier describes Armyâs âmisogynistic cultureâ

A friend of a female soldier has told an inquest into her death that women in the Army are often subjected to âhumiliatingâ comments and âvicious gossipâ from male colleagues.
Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead in her barracks at Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, on 15 December 2021 following a block party on site.
Tamzin Hort, who has since left the Army, said female soldiers receive âunwanted attentionâ from men, and are branded with sexist slurs if they refuse advances.
The inquest has heard how Gunner Beck had been subjected to relentless harassment by her line manager and had been âpinned downâ by a sergeant who tried to kiss her.

Ms Hort told the court she recognised this inappropriate and predatory behaviour from her own experience in the Army.
âI was with my partner for three years but as the only girl in my battery, I got a lot of unwanted attention from a lot of the lads â especially if theyâd had a drink,â she said.
âI couldnât walk out of my block without getting nasty comments.â
The former soldier said women were frequently called degrading and âdisgustingâ names, which would eventually add up.
âI put on weight due to my relationship and things going wrong,â she said.
âI would go to work every morning and get called fat by my training instructor.
âHe would say âlook at you, you are fat, are you pregnant?â You are just sat there humiliated.
âIf youâre told enough times, that affects you. It makes you feel very low.â

Ms Hort said she soon began locking her bedroom door because people would knock on it late at night, and she grew concerned they would let themselves in while she was sleeping.
She described one incident, aged 17, in which she returned home from the pub only to find a sergeant outside her room holding a condom.
âYou can imagine how scared I was. It happens to every female, not just in 47 Regiment.â
She added she did not report the incident because on one occasion, when she received therapy through the Army welfare services, âsomehow everyone knew about itâ.

Ms Hort said although Gunner Beck had never personally confided in her about any similar incidents of sexual harassment, she had overheard plenty.
âShe was beautiful, she was going to get comments, but she shouldnât have had to.
âThey would all make disgusting comments like âI would do this to herâ.
âYou canât react to it because it makes it worse, and they would do it even more.â
The nine-day hearing, which began at Salisbury Coronerâs Court on 10 February, heard how Gunner Beck had repeatedly tried to establish boundaries with her male colleagues, but her efforts were ignored.
In the two months leading up to her death, Bombardier Ryan Mason sent the 19-year-old more than 4,600 messages confessing his feelings for her.
Gunner Beckâs ex-boyfriend, George Higgins, said Mr Mason had also shown her a 15-page âlove storyâ he had written, detailing his âfantasies about herâ.

In a WhatsApp message, Gunner Beck revealed she felt âgenuinely trappedâ by his behaviour, which had taken a âhuge tollâ on her mental health.
She wrote: âIâm trying to be there for you as a friend but it completely crossed the line of that a long time ago. I feel so uncomfortable.â
Lance Bombardier Jones, a close friend of Gunner Beckâs, told the inquest on Thursday that she never reported this behaviour out of fear it would damage her reputation.
He explained that âshe didnât want be seen as a serial accuserâ after making a previous complaint against Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber a few months prior, following an attempted sexual advance at a work social.
In a text message to a friend, she wrote: âI havenât done anything wrong, I know that, but it looks [bad] on me. Iâm so pissed off with this situation now.
âIâm the only female, so people will begin to think âoh sheâs making her way round everyoneâ. It would be so different if I was a lad.â
An Army service inquiry report published in October 2023, said this was âpossibly a factor that may have influenced her failure to report other events that happened subsequentlyâ.
It also detailed three additional âcontributory factorsâ to her death:
- The âsignificant strainâ of a sexual relationship with a married colleague in the last few weeks of her life.
- A relationship that ended in November 2021 which involved ârepeated allegations of unfaithfulness on the part of the boyfriendâ.
- An âunhealthy approach to alcohol, with episodes of binge-drinkingâ.
The hearing continues.
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