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I find it ironic—even silly—to hear the comments of some senior naval officers about the allegations °f sexual misconduct and the reprehensible attitudes toward sexual harassment. They feign shock, disbe- hef, and ignorance of the problem, hfay I suggest that at least some of them are disingenuous.
All the time I have been in the Navy, it has been a sexist organiza- hon. The official policy against sex-
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ual discrimination has been there a °ng, but it has been virtually ig- jnrred. It was an accepted part of t d^—^1C hoys-will-be-boys atti- de. A woman who spoke out ofl ^as branded as a malcontent, and er career suffered for it. So worn quietly tolerated it as best they could.
exual jokes, innuendo, pho- °graphs, calendars, and video tap i-r° iterated in the Navy. On my cjfst ship, the Chiefs’ Mess was °sed to outsiders on any given Unday afternoon while they greened “training tapes,” i.e., ortiographjc films. As a division eo Xf-er’ * °tten saw fellow officer;
n lscate the troops’ girlie maga- ^nes—-only to have some of the ro^azines end up in their state- °rns. To hear some people speal °ut the published jokes of Vice ^i ,IT1,'rat Jerry Tuttle is to realize I n 1 do anything wrong in the
Navy way of thinking. He obviously wouldn’t have done it, if he had felt it was wrong. Now some say he was insensitive.
For years we have heard the derogatory terms “split tails” and “skirts.” If a female sailor rejected a sailor’s advances, she was a dyke and a lesbian. If she didn’t, she was a whore. A woman had to keep her distance personally while playing along with the boys professionally. If she did well and was recognized or promoted, there were allegations that she “did it on her back.” But those same allegations didn’t apply to men who worked for women. There always has been a double standard.
Now that the outcries have surfaced, someone will have to be punished. In all likelihood it will be some junior officers; they usually take the fall. But what happened at the Tailhook Convention has been happening for years. The “shocking” allegations should not have been— this has been going on for years.
Hookers, women jumping out of cakes, scantily clad women dancing suggestively at parties and other functions, and stag parties are certainly nothing new. Have some of these “shocked” senior officers ever been to Tailhook Conventions, to Olongopo City or Angeles City, to Singapore, or to Perth, Australia?
The treatment of women as objects of sexual gratification is nothing new in the Navy. When I was deployed, “take him ashore and get him laid” was a recommended cure for stressed sailors. The continuing arguments about women not belonging at sea or in combat squadrons are just more of the same.
When will we men grow up, admit our hypocrisy, and actually begin to accept women as human beings, not sex objects? For all the talk, it hasn’t happened yet.
Lieutenant Commander Parker, a 13-year Navy veteran. is the supply support officer at Nava! Technical Training Center. NAS Meridian, Misissippi. He is an aviation supply officer and Supply Corps surface warfare officer.
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r°Wt‘dings / August 1992