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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: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday July 05 2018, @02:25PM (8 children)
Yeah, no.
The title is clickbait and follows Betteridge's Law. No, the "female Australian army officer" did NOT actually advocate for prostitution. From the original report (linked in the freakin' summary):
And, well, TFA actually explains this if you read the whole thing. TFA is an interesting read and rightly criticizes ridiculous military sexual policies like General Order #1 in Iraq and Afganistan which initially banned not only prostitution but also pornography and basically all sex for troops. TFA -- despite its clickbait headline -- goes on to consider more reasonable policies and options, as did the original report by the Australian officer.
As for whether the original report was "extremely controversial," it was only so if you somehow came away with the impression that the headline gives here -- which is FALSE. The summary here is basically fake news, because it misrepresents BOTH the original report AND the article linked to. More accurately, the original report mentions historical use of prostitution in military units, which is a fact anyone familiar with basic military history knows. And, as seen in the quote above, the report doesn't actually propose prostitution as a solution.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday July 05 2018, @02:31PM (6 children)
Oh, and I'll just note that this sort of BS is one of the reasons why I stopped contributing to that "other site." Clickbait headlines that misrepresent the article and/or are designed to be provocative just to get folks yelling at each other. The disturbing thing about this headline (and I know it comes from TFA and wasn't created here, so I blame the author there) is also the intentional use of "female" as the lead word. Why? Obviously to be shocking. This isn't just some stereotypical misogynist male army dude supposedly advocating prostitution -- this instead is a FEMALE officer, (supposedly) proposing prostitution! Shocking!
Except that's not an accurate characterization of what the report said....
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 05 2018, @03:04PM (2 children)
Look, man, there's a big ole difference between why we do it and why most any other site does it. They do it for the clicks and the ad revenue. We do it for the lulz. Terrible journalism and sex are both funny. If you can't laugh at the absurd but harmless, you need to see a shrink badly; that's gotta be a fucking miserable way to go through life.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday July 05 2018, @03:36PM (1 child)
Rule 34 that
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 05 2018, @04:33PM
Already been done by John Stewart's parents.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday July 05 2018, @03:27PM (2 children)
I kind of get where you're coming from, but I don't think pointing it out is unreasonable. From a quick search, apparently women make up 15% of people in the armed forces, so it's quite reasonable to initially assume that when we hear somebody put forth an idea like this, it's a man.
Without pointing out the gender of who had the idea, I would've guessed that this is more of the "old, male Republican representatives telling women what they can do with their bodies," only in an armed forces context.
While this may be the case, assuming so is rather uncharitable. Not everybody is a troll.
All that being said, yes, the headline is still bullshit for other reasons, as I stated above.
P.S: I assume I'm going to get flamed for this, but can we just unclench for a second here, people.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday July 05 2018, @05:15PM (1 child)
That just seems incredibly... I'm looking so hard for the right word. Out of touch. Disoriented?
They're Aussies so 'publican has a different meaning in this context btw, but that's not what I mean.
No old male 'publican in 2018 is going to get anywhere near that suggestion, firstly because they're typically disgusted by prostitution and legitimately convinced that it should be illegal, and also because the ones that are left understand they'd be lynched for suggesting anything remotely like that anyway. So even without the word female in there I would have guessed immediately that this was almost certainly a female.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday July 05 2018, @06:12PM
Hmm. Alright, fair point, although lately I don't give the Republicans credit for not saying things just because it's a bad idea.
There was that thing fairly recently about male officers sexually assaulting their female subordinates, so I would expect sex in the armed forces to be on their minds in general.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday July 05 2018, @03:20PM
Hell, even the summary strongly hints the headline is bullshit.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"