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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
In a 2017 report that went widely unnoticed, a female captain in the Australian Army recommended a novel solution to combat stress: sex. More specifically, she wondered whether making sexual options, potentially including prostitution, available to soldiers in combat would help troops deal with downrange stress. You can read the report yourself here.
My understanding is that the original source of the article was in the Australian Army's official blog, but was pulled after it became, for reasons that are clear if you read the piece, extremely controversial.
Here's the thing: the author is not wrong. Well, not entirely, anyway.
As the article states, science shows that "sex helps satisfy personal, social and physical needs, reduces stress and is inextricably linked to physical and mental wellbeing." The thing is, the military brass doesn't see it that way.
Capitalism, is there anything it can't solve?
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Thursday July 05 2018, @12:26PM (14 children)
Sexually transmitted diseases will probably relive stress in simplistic field conditions..
(Score: 5, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday July 05 2018, @12:29PM (13 children)
An up-front and out-in-the-open program would provide contraception, protection, treat STDs more effectively, catch them earlier. More frequent screening, no retaliation, etc. If the military actually provides/contracts the prostitutes, they could screen them as well.
When you don't ban things, many sensible options suddenly become available to you.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 05 2018, @12:38PM (12 children)
on the other hand, how do you make sure that the prostitution is voluntary?
this is a combat region, do you really need to add the logistics of well-done prostitution to the whole thing?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday July 05 2018, @12:50PM (4 children)
Slip them in with the other civilian contractors [americancontractorsiniraq.org]? Have them live on base? Outsource it to Blackwater/Xe/Academi? Recruit from the local population with a promise of potential citizenship (and then don't deliver [theguardian.com])? Yeah, the options have their downsides.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by bobthecimmerian on Thursday July 05 2018, @01:04PM (2 children)
Hopefully I'm stating the obvious here, but large scale prostitution happens all over the world anyway, so it's not as though keeping it illegal makes it rare. It might as well be legal and regulated so the prostitutes get at least some protection - however small - against abuses, diseases, and so forth.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday July 05 2018, @04:02PM
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-soldiers-orgy-porn-video-12855410
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Alphatool on Friday July 06 2018, @11:28AM
Also worth pointing out that prostitution is already legal in most of Australia, and it's quite popular around defense bases.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 05 2018, @10:55PM
Just use some young boys like the locals do.
No need to chain them to your bed like the locals. The us army are not the bad guys.
(Score: 3, Informative) by jcross on Thursday July 05 2018, @01:29PM (6 children)
Anybody here read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman? It's an allegory about Vietnam in space, but his futuristic army is gender-balanced and casual sex among the grunts is actively encouraged. They have an assigned bunk-sharing rotation to mix things up. Seems like a more egalitarian system, but maybe prone to problems with jealousy and such.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday July 05 2018, @09:15PM (1 child)
I have read the Forever War and it's sequels and you're quite right.
Is that the one where the grunts are encouraged to chant "Fuck off Sir"! at the end of every meeting? I seem to remember that.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Friday July 06 2018, @12:53AM
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday July 05 2018, @09:31PM (3 children)
After a quick browse on Wikipedia, it looks like I may have been thinking of Old Man's War by John Scalzi, maybe.
(Score: 2) by jcross on Friday July 06 2018, @12:11AM (2 children)
No, I think that might be from Forever War because I remember it as well and haven't read Old Man's War. I think they institute that policy sometime after his first campaign as some kind of morale booster.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday July 06 2018, @12:46AM (1 child)
OK, I am quite happy to be corrected. You should read Old Man's war then, it's quite good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 06 2018, @03:40AM
But you shouldn't read The Forever War and Old Man's War too near each other. Despite being quite different, they are easily confused with each other. I read both series and I nearly always get them mixed up when talking about them. Toss in the Undying Mercenaries (crazy, accidental hero) and the Omega Force (like Farscape) series and you won't have a clue what goes where.