Controversy has swirled around Savannah Cunningham, who has long aspired to become a Marine, for months. Savannah was the subject of lewd messages from men as she also learned that an all-male group of Marines was circulating a nude video of her on Facebook, thanks to a former boyfriend.

"It was such a creepy invasion of privacy," Savannah told the New York Times. "They were actively seeking nude images of me, anything they could get their hands on."

Most likely a majority of women would turn and run when confronted with this raw misogyny in Marine culture. Not Savannah. Cunningham ships off to basic training the first week of April. Checking on her Twitter feed, on March 4 -- just as news of the Marine scandal was breaking, Sav Cunningham posted: "Very happy, excited, & humbled right now. I am the top female poolee in all of Arizona. "

“Someone needs to stand up and say this does not represent the values of the Marine Corps,” Savannah said. “If not me, then who? Yes, for a long time it was a boys’ club, but there needs to be progress.”

Note: for detailed background on the scandal itself, read 'Fearless Girl' Gets Humped As Military Nude Women Pics Scandal Expands

The Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing

The Senate Armed Services Committee had no sympathy for Marine Corps brass, peppering them with blistering questions on Tuesday, with members accusing the leadership of failing to take action on an issue they said the corps has known about for years.

“There is no mystery — this has been going on a very long time, it is right in front of you,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, told Marine Corps commanders, citing a 2013 hearing on the cyberbullying of women in the corps.

Marine Corps commandant, Gen. Robert B. Neller, appeared contrite and at times introspective in his Tuesday testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, writes the Times. Neller stated the online harassment was a symptom of a broader cultural problem that threatens to undermine the foundation of the fighting force, as he vowed to punish all who participated in the various Facebook and related groups of male Marines and then all servicemen sharing nude images and specific details including name and location about female service members. Neller once again promised to work to make the force of 184,000 a more welcoming place for its 15,000 women.

Senator Gillibrand, the strongest voice for military women for years, responded, dressing down General Neller, admonishing him: "I don’t know what you mean when you say that. Why does it have to be different? Because you all of a sudden feel that it has to be different? Who has been held accountable? I very much align myself with — with Senator Fischer’s comments. Who has been held responsible. Have you actually investigated and found guilty anybody? If we can’t crack Facebook, how are we supposed to be able to confront Russian aggression and cyber hacking throughout our military? It is a serious problem when we have members of our military denigrating female Marines who will give their life to this country in the way they have with no response.”

Armed Services Committee Democratic Senators Claire McCaskill, Jeanne Shaheen and Kirsten Gillibrand March 14, 2017

“You’ve heard it before, but we are going to have to change how we see ourselves and how we treat each other,” he told Ms. Gillibrand. “That’s a lame answer, but that’s all I have right now. And that’s on me.”

". . . even as the top enlisted Marine, Sgt. Maj. Ronald L. Green, condemned the group in testimony before Congress last week, members were taunting him online, according to a veteran, James LaPorta, who has been tracking the group’s activities.

“There seems to be no regret,” Mr. LaPorta said. “They were using racial slurs and talking about getting pictures of his wife.”

The group continues to post on anonymous pornography sites. A recent review of images from these sites shows dozens of identifiable women, naked or partly undressed, along with photos of them in uniform."

Marine Misogyny

US Marines have resisted integrating women more than any other branch of the military. It trains recruits separately and finds itself unable to give women properly fitting body armor, a challenge the Army solved years ago.

“Almost every woman I know in the Marines has faced this kind of harassment, and you try to show you are tough enough to ignore it,” said Justine Elena, a former Marine captain who served in Afghanistan and now works for “The Daily Show.” “But at some point, by ignoring it, you just condone it.”

Savannah Cunningham says that while she's been torn over how to respond to the online harassment, she decided to join the Marines because it was the most selective and demanding. She will work on a crew loading missiles on Cobra helicopters.

As her Twitter pics reveal, Cunningham has been working out intensely in preparation for Marine duty. "I wanted to make sure I could do anything male Marines could," she told the Times. "I didn't want anyone to hold me to a lower standard. "

While horrified by what happened to her and how a former close boyfriend shared a private strip tease video, Sav now dates a Marine sergeant and says the majority of male Marines she knows were totally disgusted by the photo sharing.

"We have to be positive examples of the change we want to see," she said. "Courage, integrity, honor: I want to live those values."