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Ms. McSally’s testimony was met with an outpouring of support from her fellow lawmakers, including her female colleagues who have pushed the Pentagon to more forcefully address the issue of sexual assault.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, who is running for president and who has made curbing sexual assault in the military one of her central policy goals, said she was grateful that Ms. McSally was present “and spoke that truth.”

Ms. Gillibrand, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel that Ms. McSally addressed, offered a measure in 2013 that would have taken sexual assault cases outside of the military chain of command and given military prosecutors, rather than accusers’ commanders, the power to decide which cases to try, a potential sea change to the military justice system.

That attempt failed, but in recent years, lawmakers have made changes to the military’s legal system, including ending the statute of limitations on assault and rape cases, making it a crime to retaliate against victims who report assaults and requiring the dishonorable discharge or the dismissal of anyone convicted of sexual assault or rape.

In a Congress with historic numbers of women, Ms. McSally’s revelation was another instance of a female lawmaker stepping forward to share a personal experience of trauma.

Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, came forward in January to say that she had been sexually assaulted by her husband. Representative Katie Porter, Democrat of California and a single mother of three, has spoken openly about the domestic abuse she said she suffered in her marriage.

Ms. Ernst said she sent Ms. McSally a message after her testimony, saying, “I love you and I support you.”