Female problems in the military

It's not exactly a newsflash that despite women making up about 20% of the troop force, the U.S. military has "female problems." As in sexual harassment, rape and discrimination. Here in Colorado, the newspapers have been filled with stories detailing assaults and harassment of women cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. California's Sacramento Bee has published a series of stories this month detailing sexual harassment of dozens of women soldiers by "male comrades-in-arms" while in the Iraq. Not surprisingly, many said the military hierarchy has not adequately addressed this problem. Now we hear that the U.S. Army MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) Unit, the Iraq Multi-National Corps and Halliburton recently cosponsored a two-week travelling "show" for soldiers in Iraq featuring an all-female group called "The Purrfect Angelz." The name alone is enough to make any normal person sick. Predictably, the photo I saw featured four women scantily clothed in tiny red bikinis and black leather chaps, strutting their "stuff" provacatively. The Purrfect Angelz reportedly were booked to "raise troop morale." And whose morale, exactly, would that be? Certainly not the 100,000 women who have served in Iraq since combat began two years ago. I'm thinking that their reactions would range from annoyed to nauseated. Personally, I think that the Angelz' quasi-pornographic show is generally degrading to women. But I'm not a complete prude--if that's the kind of thing an adult wants to view on his (or her) own time and dime, it's none of my business. But it's deplorable to think that our taxpayer dollars are going to reinforce an already-out-of-control adolescent, frat-boy culture that exists in parts of the military. As former Navy Captain Lory Manning said, "Women in the military should not have to put up with this kind of thing." Baghdad-stationed U.S. Air Force captain Sharon Kibiloski (speaking as "an outraged woman", not in her official capacity) is also not amused. "The show only appeals to men, and in my mind has the potential to increase sexual advances toward female soldiers afterward...to me, if the military really cared about sexual harassment, they would not sponsor such a show." Look, this is not tough stuff to understand. We have a two-gender military now. It's time to deal with what that means. In denying responsibility, Armed Forces Entertainment Air Force Master Sgt. John Martin claims he has never heard of the Purrfect Angelz, saying "The only thing we had that even remotely resembled that was "The Pinup Girls," and that was back in February of '04." Guess what. They STILL don't "get it."